Nearly 50% of students in junior high schools will not be able to enter high schools in China. They will enter vocational high schools, in a way similar to those in Germany. And what do Chinese do? They do this: https://images.app.goo.gl/pKvyBtNtBgMhMK1T9 In the picture Chinese parents send their kids to math tutoring classes, and they stayed in the back of the classroom to study too, so they can help their kids after class.
Yeah, laugh all you want, believing that training 5 hours a day for whatever bullshit sports is superior to doing algebra a couple of hours a day. But this is how some millions of kids fight to get into college and change their life, despite limited resource and all the struggles in their life. And the government? They make sure teachers can be fired. They make sure teacher's work can be measured. They make sure teachers will have a career ladder. They make sure teachers can have decent income especially pension.
And states in the US (K12 education is the responsibility of individual states)? I'm sure they do a better job at K12 education. The US, after all, is a developed country, right?