CNN said if the US had cherry picked a state of 7 million into the test they would have come 6th overall, that was Massachusetts. Still 60 - 80 points below that of Shanghai-China a city of 25 million.
The truth is, out of all of highest performing participants. Most are small nations, combine any 3 chinese cities and the number of student number will surpass those countries and you will get almost identical results to what shanghai represented.
After all, China is a developing country with a low mid income level. That fact alone makes the chinese education system best in the world, despite Shanghai being the largest city in China, on a per capita basis it is no richer than other provinces with up to a hundred million people and this means the similar resources at their disposal.
The truth is, out of all of highest performing participants. Most are small nations, combine any 3 chinese cities and the number of student number will surpass those countries and you will get almost identical results to what shanghai represented.
After all, China is a developing country with a low mid income level. That fact alone makes the chinese education system best in the world, despite Shanghai being the largest city in China, on a per capita basis it is no richer than other provinces with up to a hundred million people and this means the similar resources at their disposal.