So Asian Kids Are Good at Math. What Does That Mean?

HONG KONG- There were two conflicting reactions to international exam results this week.

From New York, my colleague Motoko Rich reported that “U.S. students still lag globally in math and science, tests show.” Reflecting worries among parents and educators in the United States, she added that “fretting about how American schools compare with those in other countries has become a regular pastime in education circles.”

Meanwhile, sitting here on the other side of the world, I got a rather self-congratulatory email from the local education bureau saying “it was glad to learn that Hong Kong students had maintained their outstanding performance” in academics.

It's not exactly breaking news that kids from rich Asian states are good at math and science. It seems like each time a new student ranking is released, U.S. commentators resort to hand-wringing over America's place in the world, while Asians pat themselves on the back.

On Tuesday, the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, released two major reports: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and The Progress In International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).
Here are some results:

Fourth-grade science
1. South Korea
2. Singapore
3. Finland
4. Japan
5. Russia
6. Taiwan
7. United States
8. Czech Republic
9. Hong Kong
10. Hungary

Eighth-grade science
1. Singapore
2. Taiwan
3. South Korea
4. Japan
5. Finland
6. Slovenia
7. Russia
8. Hong Kong
9. Britain
10. United States

Fourth-grade math
1. Singapore
2. South Korea
3. Hong Kong
4. Taiwan
5. Japan
6. Northern Ireland
7. Belgium (Flemish areas)
8. Finland
9. Russia
10. Netherlands
11. United States

Eighth-grade math
1. South Korea
2. Singapore
3. Taiwan
4. Hong Kong
5. Japan
6. Russia
7. Finland
8. Israel
9. United States
10. Australia

As the child of Asian immigrants, I am not surprised by these results, which I think are greatly influenced by the weight that a particular culture puts on math and science, and the way that children are raised. (My brother and I spent many a beautiful summer's day standing stiffly in the living room, reciting multiplication tables, while our American friends played outside. To this day, I still do math in my head in Cantonese.)

I am, however, taken back by this:

Fourth-grade readi ng
1. Hong Kong
2. Russia
3. Finland
4. Singapore
5. Northern Ireland
6. United States
7. Denmark
8. Croatia
9. Taiwan
10. Ireland

Hong Kong is not the most literary â€" or literate â€" place I have ever lived. People spent little time reading for pleasure, and our literary scene is tiny compared to those in New York or London. But our kids, allegedly, are the most literate in the world.

Meanwhile, American kids don't do so well on math exams. But America is, by far, the world's technological leader. M.I.T., Caltech, Stanford and Harvard top just about every ranking of research universities. (Their only non-U.S. rivals are top British schools like Oxford and Cambridge). The companies that changed the way that the world uses technology â€" the Apples and Googles â€" come from Silicon Valley.

Something doesn't compute.

One explanation is that student test scores don't correlate very closely with how a country actually excels in particular fields. Singaporean kids might test well, but that does not mean Singapore will create the next Google. Success is determined by factors like migration, government support, and whether a society encourages creativity and risk-taking. America, a nation of immigrants, has long attracted overseas scientists. Its culture of innovation hasn't been replicated anywhere.

The other explanation is that, while student test scores don't have much bearing on the current economy, they can be used as a weather vane for the future. The kids examined for these studies were, on average, 8 and 12 years old. Their impact will come in 20 years' time. Maybe by then, Korean universities will be doing Ivy-League-level research, and Hong Kong will be a literary center. Maybe.

How much weight do you give student rankings like these?
Joanne Lam contributed reporting.