[WS:] I think there are other differences that are important. For example, the availability of different types of schooling (tracking) - people who have no interest in academic careers can pursue vocational education. It never ceases to amaze me how standardized K12 education in the US is vis a vis Europe, despite superficial fragmentation. The superficial fragmentation pertains mainly to funding through local taxes - which I presume is deliberate to reproduce the class structure - but every student in this country is required to go through twelve years of the same curriculum, enforced by standardized testing, This is simply unheard of elsewhere.
I think it was Graeber who observed that the US is one of the most regimented societies among developed countries - as far as policing and media reporting are concerned. I would add education to this list. If there is such a thing as US exceptionalism it is that unlike any other developed country the US is a laissez faire welfare state for the 1 percent, and a garrison state for the 99 percent.
Wojtek