> Chinese children scored higher just because they were trained earlier.
No, Chinese children scored higher because only a sample was taken from urban Shanghai and compared to the entire USA. Imagine comparing San Francisco to the whole of China, including its much poorer and less educated hinterlands.
Are you talking about PISA? Alright, that test has sample problems due to Hukou system[0] and limited city participation, it may expand to more cities. In fact the U.S. didn't participate as a whole but 3 states.
I will put my argument more widely, East-Asian countries tend to train their children at a very young age, and their pronunciation of numbers helped them to learn arithmetic(stated in the book <Outliers>).
China has a basically working K-12 program, and there were a series of documentaries shoot in UK, not long later, UK imported elementary math books from Shanghai. But China still need to improve it's higher-ed system. Preferably learn from Russia, France and Germany.
China has a K-9 program, education isn’t compulsory after the 9th grade is completed, high school is optional. Whether you get a good education or not depends on your hukou, it is far from universally good, first tier cities having the best, rural villages having much much worse.
No, Chinese children scored higher because only a sample was taken from urban Shanghai and compared to the entire USA. Imagine comparing San Francisco to the whole of China, including its much poorer and less educated hinterlands.
There are false generalizations all around.