Easier to manipulate, yes.
The US education system isn’t monolithic. There are lots of good public education systems in the US. It wouldn’t be the tech and economic powerhouse it is today (was yesterday?) if it didn’t have generally good public education. Part of the reason some people think “the system” is bad is because their particular state/county/district/school is bad.
Latest case of affluenza. He needs the Brock Turner treatment. You remember the rapist Brock Turner, right?