I see the same across the pond in Finland. I was myself fitting very well to a theoretical elementary school but I could see how other people were totally frustrated by being fed with theoretical subjects (including that mandatory Swedish :) and not having practical training for things wehere they were really good at.

Not everyone can go to college, and not everyone needs to. Having a well-educated population is different from having a lot of college degrees. Alas, many politicians see it as "equality" that everyone's pushed with college-type qualifications. The only possible result is that it just lowers the bar and gives us more drop-outs and frustrated people.