Are PISA exams adequate?

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I don't know about humanities but, at the very least in math and science, Russia is far better than the USA. For example, in Russia calculus is a part of regular high school curriculum that all students have to take. In the USA, its only AP class for the gifted students. Also, back in the Soviet days, there was no such thing as SAT. Instead, there were entrance exams that students had to take orally, in person, and the questions were very difficult. On the other hand, SAT questions given in America are really easy. Also in Russia there are schools for mathematically gifted students where they study how to solve olimpiad level questions. In America students are just asked to memorize some really simple formulae that in Russia are taken for granted. I can go on and on.

However -- despite all this -- when I looked at the PISA math results and compared Russia to America, I saw that they score about the same, and some of the years Russia scores lower. At first I was wondering how can this possibly be the case. But finally it occurred to me what is going on. Like I mentioned, one of the ways Russia excells is that they study calculus in high school. But what if in that exam they don't have any calculus questions? In this case something interesting might happen. While in Russia they are studying calculus doesn't help that test, in America they are memorizing answers to simple arithmetic questions, that does. So Americans end up scoring higher since they memorized arithmetic longer, but on the long term arithmetic doesn't count while calculus does. Thats why that test falsely shows Americans to be better when in reality Russians are.

But this brings to the following quesiton. Why is it that PISA math test doesn't have calculus? After all, judging by Russia, calculus *is* part of high school curriculum! The answer is simple: that test was probably designed by the Americans and was all about American education. I mean, Russia is not the only country in the world that has calculus in high school. A lot of other countries have calculus in high school too -- just not America. Thats why the only explanation why that test doesn't have calculus in it -- despite *several* countries teaching it -- is that America isn't one of these countries. So if Americans designed that test, then it was geared towards American education, so of course Americans test higher than they otherwise would.

What they teach in high school doesn't really mean anything when it comes to the PISA tests since the test is taken by ninth graders. Also, it's not an American test but one made by OECD which contains several countries. The PISA also looks at other stuff than just mathematics. This is all information that can be found with quick googling.

Well Russians are well ahead of Americans by 9th grade. In Russia they study trigonometry at 8th grade; in America they only do it in high school. Also in Russia they do limits in the 9th grade (although they reserve derivatives and integrals for 10th and 11 grades). In America they don't do limits until calculus -- which like I said, happens later.



It shows three separate scores for math, science and humanities and it separately shows average between all three. So if I want to look at math score by itself I easily can.

But in any case, Russia is ahead of America in science too.im Russia everyone in high school studies special relativity and beginning of quantum.

Russia is also ahead of the US in humanities. Most Americans have never heard of Pushkin. In Russia that sounds as crazy as when someone never heard that the earth is round.

Now you might say Pushkin lived in Russia so it's biased. Well I talked to people in India and they know Pushkin, but Americans don't. Besides, what if we take world literature that is neither Russian nor American. I did all my high school in America and the only world literature I remember reading is "The Tempest" by Shakespeare. In Russia they do a lot more of Shakespeare than just that -- and that's despite the fact that Shakespeare is from English speaking world.

If you look at history same thing. In America they do just one year of world history and everything else is just American history. In Russia they do world history every single year. This is even evident if you look at a map. In America the map just shows American. In Russia it shows the whole world.

It's not about what is taught, it's about what is learned. What people are taught in school doesn't mean a thing if they don't actually manage to learn it. So maybe they teach less in USA than Russia, but the things that are taught in the former sink in better for the students than in the later? Perhaps even because they focus on a few things instead of a lot of things? Just a quess, though. Another possibility is that maybe at least some people in Russia study really hard for normal tests, but don't bother to study specifically for the PISA test since it doesn't affect their grades, so the results they'd get for normal tests are different. I've heard this is the case in some Asian countries at least.

Well, Russians are better in terms of what is learned too. In case of math and science, Russian university entrance exams are a lot more difficult than American SAT, yet some Russians manage to pass them. When it comes to humanities, my observation that Americans don't know Pushkin is strictly about what is learned since it is a result of my conversations with them.



That part I don't know about one way or the other. But, by the "method of exclusion", I would have to say that there is a "good chance" that it's true. After all, there has to be "some" reason, so since other mentioned reasons sound less likely, this makes this particular one more likely.