Parents often want their children be successful. The thing is, what defines the road to success? Many self help books talk about success in dollars. From their perspective, the dollars define success.
What does society tell us we need to be successful? For one thing, society tells us we need a good job. To get a good job, we need to attend college. People that attend college on average make significantly more money than those that do not attend college. Last time I checked the difference was on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Where does the Yellow Brick Road end? For most, being able to provide a comfortable living for your family is the end of the road. That is "success" for a typical American family. This includes providing the basic necessities, such as food and cloths, things that are needed to maintain a comfortable existence.
Some aspect of is likely about meeting the status quo. Society deems this important so we deem this important. If we deem this important, our kids must deem this important. In that way the tendrils of influence bridge the general gap.
For instance, academic performance. Currently, it's a one size fits all approach. Standardized testing tends tend to define the obstacles to success. Remember, in order to be successful you need to attend college. In order to attend college, you need to perform well on SAT's.
There is another layer to this though. Many "good companies" look at which school you attended. Sure you can attend almost any school. Some pay little attention to SAT scores. But, if you wish to work for a "good" company, you need to attend that "good" school.
There is this thought process in America that in order to be successfull you need to work for a good company. In that way there is a drive to attend specific schools. The "good" companies recruit graduates from "good" schools. It's almost as if they are hand-in-hand.