Хмм... А мне вот недавно прислали статеечку по американскому листу, так там говорят, что это они в полной заднице. Может, оригинал где есть?

WORLD NEWS
>
> Economic Time Bomb: U.S. Teens
> Are Among the Worst at Math
>
> By JUNE KRONHOLZ
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
> December 7, 2004; Page B1
>
> Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. rank near the bottom of industrialized
> countries in math skills, ahead of only Portugal, Mexico and three
> other nations, according to a new international comparison that
> economists say is bad news for long-term economic growth.
>
> Two of the study's most unsettling findings: The percentage of
> top-achieving math students in the nation is about half that of other
> industrialized countries, and the gap between scores of whites and
> minority groups -- who will make up an increasing share of the labor
> force in coming decades -- is enormous.
>
> The U.S. ranked 24th among 29 countries that are members of the
> Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sponsored
> the study. Using the OECD's adjusted average score of 500 points, the
> U.S. scored 483 -- 61 points behind top-scoring Finland and 51 points
> behind Japan. In a wider group that also included 10 nonmembers, many
> of them developing nations, the U.S. tied Latvia for 27th place. The
> bad news is likely to be repeated next week with the expected release
> of another international math comparison. The U.S. scored near the
> bottom of that survey, the Trends in International Math and Science
> Survey, or Timss, when it was conducted four years ago.
>
> The OECD study, called the Program for International Student
> Assessment, or PISA, also looked at reading and science skills, where
> U.S. students scored slightly higher than in math, and at general
> problem-solving skills, where they scored close to the bottom. In
> science, U.S. youngsters scored 491 points; in reading, they scored
> 495 and in problem-solving, they scored 477, all using a 500-point
> average.
>
>
> The study devoted most of its analysis, though, to the math test,
> which asked youngsters to apply what they'd learned in class and which
> should particularly interest employers. A uniform test was
> administered last year to students around the world, with OECD
> monitors ensuring it wasn't selectively given to high performers. The
> OECD undertook a similar study three years ago concentrating on
> reading. In both test years, U.S. youngsters scored slightly above the
> average in reading. In science, U.S. youngsters scored at the average
> in 2000 but eight points below it last year.

и далее про Буша.