Contrary to Popular Opinion

EVERYBODY KNOWS . . .

...That the scores of American schoolchildren on math tests are far below the scores of Japanese schoolchildren on similar tests.

IN FACT . . .

...According to the Second International Math Assessment, the mean score for the top 50% of American eighth-graders was about the same as that for the top 50% of Japanese students. (Japanese students in the bottom half, however, far outscore their American counterparts.