My dad said the right level to compare two countries’ education system is not at primary/secondary level, but university level or higher. He felt outstanding students are produced in universities.

I agree that the pre-U systems only prepare a foundation and platform. The strong foundation achieved by the Chinese numeracy education may not produce good mathematicians but they do produce good math students for sure.

If you say a nation BB has superior education system than nation AA, but AA universities produce many top researchers, top innovators, top thought leaders, in both green fields and brown fields, while BB universities produce solid experts in “brown fields” but not leading the world in any field… You better think twice.

Compare USSR vs U.S. In terms of pre-U level math education, US was weak, but look at the output of US universities…

Therefore, he said U.S. education system is the best in the world. I can see that

• lots of domestic talent across all fields — humanities, sports, arts, life science, finance, ..
• U.S. continues to attract global talents in all fields
• In my familiar domains of math, engineering and computer science, I see many home-grown talents in the U.S. produced by the education system. Per million population, it’s higher than China or India, even though the average standard (in these subjects) at secondary level is much higher in China than U.S.
  • I believe in terms of talent, the U.S. technical education is not weaker. The U.S. system develops local students effectively.
  • However, many students have weak foundation in math, perhaps because the pressure to practice and pass exams is much lower than in Asia. If you use the average math standard as a gauge, then U.S. math education is indeed weaker than China.