> The other side of this is that in the European system many otherwise qualified individuals will never see higher education because there is so much competition for the limited spaces available.
I tend to prefer a system where you fail because you are not good enough, to a system where you fail because the pockets of your parents are not deep enough.
"Not good enough" is compared to how many slots are available, many of the people forced out could be good enough.
The stories I have been told of difficult classes in the EU are mind-bending. They seem to be incentivizing ~80% of the class to drop out. There is no way the majority of people are not suited for, say, IT. They may not want to do it, but that doesn't mean they are not capable of doing it.
I tend to prefer a system where you fail because you are not good enough, to a system where you fail because the pockets of your parents are not deep enough.