Some alumuni of our school are famous, including professional athletes, TV personalities and politicians. I'm not sure about my generation. I'd like to share my tentative idea on the relationship between education system and workaholic society.
Education system is a process to sort individuals by suitability to workaholic culture. Promissing students go on to higher education, where they learn how to process massive work load. For example, university students deal with assignments, presentation and exams under great pressure. Successful graduates get a job at a large corporation, where they devote themselves to work in exchange for handsome salary and respectable social status. Taking national government staff as an example, they carry huge responsibilities for the nation's future, working long every day, thinking about work 24/7. The same is true to lawyers and doctors.
Society makes the most of all the individuals. If you can stretch, it requires you to stretch to the limit. Education teaches how elastic you are. Society wants you to keep at your tensest.