The educational system of Ponderland is somewhat eerie. If you don't have a University degree you are quite next to nothing (if you don't have many a personal bonuses, that is and High Schools are not adequate enough to educate their students so as to individually credit them for life after primary education without a higher degree) and for that reason the Ministry of Education prepares a nationwide exam for all those who wish to literally "compete against each other" so as not to... well... starve for the rest of their lives.