>>I didn't say they're getting more. I said they're introducing some subjects earlier. In the US, we tend to teach subjects sequentially. For example, where I live, kids take Physical Science in 9th grade, Biology in 10th, Chemistry in 11th and Physics in 12th. As I understand it, in many other countries, students have all those sciences in each grade and spread the material out over a number of years. That means they acquire fundamentals of those subjects younger than their American counterparts, not necessarily that they learn more of each.
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>Well if they are out performing our kids in general, what's the difference? They are getting more bang for their dollar/Yen. Thus, their educational system is out performing ours'.

But it matters when you give the test. I think you'll find that many of the tests are given at a time when the non-US kids have had an introduction to some subjects, and US kids haven't encountered them yet.

Tamar