“There is no need for this giant, wasteful educational infrastructure...”
... unless, of course, one is a communist. Then it is absolutely essential.
It did not randomly evolve into this; it was engineered to be this way.
Curiously, communist countries education systems were not at all like those of the US.
They actually believed in individual talent, sought it out and developed it. They did have strong academic tracking.
They did force a bunch of stupid political philosophy down the kids throats, but they certainly did teach math and literature very well.
Soviet teachers and administrators would consider the US system and its guiding philosophy as fanatical and idiotic.