I first lived in Taiwan under its former dictatorial regime. Even then, when the late Chiang Kai-shek's son Chiang Ching-kuo was president, the people of Taiwan were very proud of the incorruptibility of their university entrance system. They pointed out to me that Chiang Ching-kuo's son was not able to get into university. The university entrance exams there, then and now, are like taking a battery of multiple AP-level or IB-level tests over just a couple days in July. Students were strictly rank-ordered by their scores, and students rank-ordered their choices of university departments. Then a matching algorithm paired students and schools. (There are other details I am omitting here for simplicity.)<p>The stringency and fairness of the university entrance system in Taiwan seemed to drive a lot of quality in curriculum standards and instruction in secondary schooling in Taiwan. (In those days, compulsory, taxpayer-subsidized schooling for all was provided through ninth grade. Many students went on to three grades of senior high after taking entrance exams for senior high schools. The best and most desired senior high schools were free to attend, having taxpayer subsidies, but of course were hard to get into.)<p>In most countries, over time, democratization leads to ever-greater provision of higher education places, with ever-greater public subsidies. Today, the best universities in Taiwan still enroll very well prepared students, who take many of the core subjects using the same English-language textbooks used at the better univerisities in the States. Some of the lesser universities in Taiwan are barely above the level of typical colleges in the United States, but in general there is still good quality of secondary education there. Selection to higher levels of schooling that is based on achievement at earlier levels of schooling, rather than based on bribes or connections, makes a whole country better off.