"Of course, by the 19th century this has fallen dreafully behind as Keju curriculums were never updated to fit an evolving world." This represents a misunderst

"Of course, by the 19th century this has fallen dreafully behind as Keju curriculums were never updated to fit an evolving world." This represents a misunderstanding of objective of the test. The subject matter of the test is sort of irrelevant (other than cementing a common cultural foundation for the educated classes). The test functions primarily as an IQ test of sorts. Talented individuals end up rising while lazy/stupid ones do not. It's not about building skills In the modern world it's not really all that different. Children in China study crazy hard for the gaokao, but if you speak to anyone who's gone through the system they've virtually all forgotten the history and multivariable calculus they had to study. People primarily learn relevant skills "on the job" The UK didn't have the industrial revolution because they started to teach children algebra