Okay, I'll admit it, I only scanned this

But it echoes one of the problems I've consistently had with the school system:

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/aim-to-fail

If you fail in school, you tend to permanently mark up your record. Only certain types of problems can be solved by failure-averse behavior. Failure is valuable.

Worth a scan, for a few decent illustrations.