As a British physician, Dalrymple cites cases of treating victims of brutal beatings by teens who did nothing more than score well on tests. For some reason in the U.K. it is cool to fail, anyone bucking the peer group gets savaged. Reading his works will make you despair for our education system.
American media presents the notion of it being “cool to fail” as well. Teachers and other authority figures are mocked, the protagonist who gets low grades is misunderstood (if the teachers REALLY knew that he/she was a secret dragon/crime fighter, what have you....)
American television has gone way down hill from even twenty years ago.