As far as I'm concerned, higher national IQ, more discipline in the classroom and possibly a longer school day is why America 'sucks' at Math compared to Japan.

As far as I'm concerned, higher national IQ, more discipline in the classroom and possibly a longer school day is why America 'sucks' at Math compared to Japan. May be more of one and less of another, and let's not ignore the negative relationship between mean class IQ and the frequency of disruptions. This is only up to a point - potted plants have very low IQ but aren't disruptive, but like American students they also suck at maths. Anyway, I can say to nytimes, without reading the article that panflutes and sandals can only help America's children so much.