While the authors are busy jerking themselves sore over American Exceptionalism, I&#x27;m still as alienated by the rampant focus on academic pedigree and class from Americans as I was when I first learned about it. In my corner of the world, <i>most</i> people have these considerations when they choose the school-route (or not) in life:<p>- Tired of reading and writing? Get an education in some trade.<p>- Want a specific job that requires higher education? Continue school and get good enough grades.<p>- Don&#x27;t know what you want to do? Choose one of the former based on your perceived abilities and preferences.<p>While there is to a degree some academic inflation, as long as there are people who are more inspired by doing hands-on work instead of becoming a white collar worker, I think things will be OK. Oh, and not having a college or university degree is not looked down upon. At all.<p>Only the no&#x2F;low-skill jobs, with low pay, are actively avoided if people can avoid them. So we have more of the poorer immigrants ending up with those jobs.