Maybe the problem is not so bad as is commonly believed.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgeography.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;001955-the-amazing-truth-about-pisa-scores-usa-beats-western-europe-ties-with-asia" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgeography.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;001955-the-amazing-truth...</a><p>tl;dr<p>Comparing Americans of European descent with Europeans, Americans are above the European average.<p>&quot;The mean score of Americans with European ancestry is 524, compared to 506 in Europe, when first and second generation immigrants are excluded.&quot;<p>Americans of Asian descent tie with Asians. Note the provisos.<p>&quot;For Asian-American students (remember this includes Vietnam, Thailand and other less developed countries outside Northeast Asia), the mean PISA score is 534, same as 533 for the average of Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Here we have two biases going in opposite directions: Asians in the U.S are selected. On the other hand we are comparing the richest and best scoring Asian countries with all Americans with origin in South and East Asia.&quot;