I'm in New Zealand but from conversation with people who transferred from Britain, Australia etc it had seemed to me that the UK system teaches English in high schools in much the same way as it is taught here.

That was my assumption, sounds like I was partially wrong, and that mileage over there varies a lot more than I thought, if they were only teaching literature in your classes.

The UK-based Cambridge exams are also taught here, and their English syllabus maps pretty closely onto what I think of as "English" the high school subject.

You're not being condescending and I can see why you think it's strange that your compatriots value English so highly, if for you it was just the literature component.