Students from Japan and South Korea gave their U.S. counterparts a sound thrashing on a recent international comparison of mathematics skills. But don鈥檛 expect them to boast about it.
A survey of students, included in the Program for International Student Assessment study released last month, reveals that 15-year-olds from the two Asian nations expressed little confidence in their math ability鈥攁nd little enthusiasm for the subject overall鈥攄espite their strong performance. U.S. teenagers, who by contrast fared worse on PISA, felt relatively assured of their own ability, the survey indicates.
William H. Schmidt, a professor at Michigan State University鈥檚 college of education, said it was not surprising that those Asian teenagers harbor doubts about their math skills鈥攁nd dread the subject at times. The American perception that mathematics somehow comes easily to Asian students is a myth, he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult, and they struggle with it,鈥� said Mr. Schmidt, who has participated in a number of international education studies.
