In the late 1800s, schools were designed in such a way that they would teach obedience to students. With the rise of our mechanical age, big corporations needed workers for their factories and with that, the purpose of the Academic system transformed into that of creating obedient and compliant workers who never made inquires. There really was no dearth of scholars at that time.

This thus, led to the creation of what came to be known as the standardized test. The academic system itself became a factory of sorts to standardize its students thereby ensuring that they fit the sought form. On the off chance that the students failed the tests, they were kept down one more year to attempt the test once more.

Reference article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/10-reasons-why-c-students-are-more-successful-after_us_58b6f0cce4b0658fc20f9c6b?section=us_education