I don't think there is any such thing as standardized school. In fact, the U.S. model currently is the LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) model where all students are encouraged to perform at the highest level, regardless of ability, while at the same time having their individual learning needs met. Quality of instruction varies from school to school and teacher to teacher so in that respect there is no "Standard" except the general course guidlines set down by the State. However, I think perhaps your problem is with stansdardized TESTING, which I fully agree doesn't really test anything but the student's ability to take tests. I believe that Canada has the same sort of testing however, so I don't know that the instruction is all that much different from the U.S. in anything but retoric. We do both roughly get the same results: A basically literate and employable population.