What are your thoughts on the education system's ability to encourage students to learn instead of showing what they already know, in other words does it pressure students to show their knowledge instead of gaining more?

The old Martin Luther King Jr quote holds true, "knowlege is power." With knowledge one can create thresholds to many keys in life, of course their are many different types of knowledge so the possibilities are literally endless in this case. Is it possible that the education system hammers down too hard on students, with things such as GPA, and class rankings? Many will answer no, because this would induce students to try harder and try to move up in those rankings. It is also true that this can do the opposite. So one is stuck to be in the middle. Can we find a right side? Or are we bound to this cycle?

thoughts please