Exams that sort instead of teach
Students are measured again and again by exams whose main job is to rank them. The results decide who moves ahead, but they rarely change how anyone is taught.
A real education system uses what it learns about a student to teach that student better. That's the educational purpose exams were supposed to serve.
One pace for a whole class
A single classroom holds students at very different levels. When everyone moves at one pace with little individual attention, the students who start behind fall further behind.
They lose confidence first. Some eventually stop trying, and some leave school altogether.
Personal attention follows money
Families who can afford it hire tutors who adapt to their child. Everyone else gets the same one-size lesson, whatever their child needs.
That gap in resources is decided by income, not by ability or effort. It's the gap we most want to close.