The thing is, America can afford to have its school system be the worst while also being the most expensive, because it compensates through skilled immigration

The thing is, America can afford to have its school system be the worst while also being the most expensive, because it compensates through skilled immigration from countries which have ambitious people with great schools (Asia, Eastern Europe), and also from having the best research universities along with top paying companies, ensuring US's technological superiority. Linus Torvalds or Andrej Karpathy didn't go to school in the US, but they made their careers there, so as long as the US will be the No. 1 gathering place for the world's top minds (and highest salaries), it has nothing to worry about. It might just as well not have a school system at all. /s Edit: I'm not from the US, it's just how I see it from my PoV