You forgot to take the Rheinland capitalist states (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands) and the Scandinavian ones (Sweden, Denmark, Norway) into your comparision. All give open acces to pretty good and free education, even at university level (fees depend on parents income).

So no young people regards of race, religion or financial status, are ever trapped by the destiny of their parents.

Sure, the rich will pressure their kids and pay for extra tuition, but as there are no entrance exames, or high fees, having a lot of money hardy helps. These system are at the moment the closest earth has resembling a meriocracy. And these relative small societies, especially compared to the population seizes of the US and India, are economically doing very very well. They also score high on the measured level of welbeing (happiness). So I dare say these system are far smarter societal systems.