Replies

Yes I agree that the U.S. education system is a mess and this is caused mainly by teacher unions. However I would not trade our system for any other system in the world. I have seen these Chinese students. They don't get to play, the study all the time and are even given tons of homework during summer break.

So don't always believe these stats.

I tend to agree with you. Our results reflect the testing of ALL of our population, which includes many who perform quite poorly.

In terms of the very top performers, the US does very well. We certainly do extremely well at the University level and the awards and accomplishments of our research mathematicians.

However I would not trade our system for any other system in the world.

If you've actually toiled under the system, you'd trade it instantly. True, Chinese students go to school for 10 hours a day Monday-Saturday, which I think is lunacy, but at least they actually learn something to put to good use instead of write essays about themselves.