[Nyororin]

Blaming any of this on the school system is, in my opinion, silly.
There are "elite" kindergartens in the US too - I know a woman in NY whose daughter had an exam to get into an elite nursery at 10 months... Apparently they wouldn`t accept a child who wasn`t ahead in their developmental milestones.

This all comes down to the mother being freaking insane. Not every kindergarten has an entrance "exam", and most of the ones that do aren`t even that harsh (my son, who actually carries a disability card for mild mental retardation was able to "pass"...)
There are a few that are a bit insane (writing your name at 2, etc) - but it isn`t as if there are countless other kindergartens you could send your child to. And kindergarten REALLY doesn`t count all that much at all toward the future, so there is hardly any pressure to send your child to a "prestigious" kindergarten unless it`s the closest to your house or has significantly better facilities (indoor pool, etc).

So don`t blame the education system, blame the insane people who happened to have kids and ended up taking it out on them.