Standardized testing has been around for generations now and there is no real shortage of critical thinkers. It's something else.

On a more basic level what you described is in fact a life lesson. Playing the game. Your lesson to learn was that not everybody fits the pack and how a rogue individual can get through life in spite of it. How to manipulate the pack when possible and avoid it when you don't need them. When you learn that authority figures are just people and most are part of the pack and how you learn to deal with it is pretty crucial to what type of adult you'll become. Most people become spiteful to the public(neck beards). Smart people become leaders.

We had a government that was highly concerned with critical thinking. It was a big push in education during Obama's terms. They got voted out and replace by a government that is highly concerned that the masses might become too smart to vote for them.