WSJ: Education gap is the real threat facing America in technology race with China

(New York = Yonhap News) Correspondent Lim Soo-jeong = A leading American newspaper pointed out that the real threat facing the United States in technological competition with China is the learning gap between students in both countries.

On the 14th (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), an American daily, introduced the results of the 'Proficiency International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025' in an editorial titled 'Chinese students are far ahead of American children' and said, "It showed in a darkly clear way that America's failed education system is the biggest obstacle in the innovation competition with China."

PISA is a survey to internationally evaluate and compare the reading, math, and science literacy of 15-year-old students around the world, and is conducted every 3 to 4 years. This year, approximately 760,000 students from 91 countries (38 OECD member countries and 53 non-member countries) participated.

According to WSJ, while academic achievement has declined in most countries since 2018, math scores in China (only Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces participated) increased by 21 points. He explained that if this is converted into a learning period, it is equivalent to approximately one year's worth of learning progress.

China recorded the highest average math score among the participating countries, with 612 points. On the other hand, America's math scores fell by 15 points during the same period, showing that about 9 months' worth of learning was lost.

As a result, the WSJ diagnosed that the final math skill gap between the United States and China was equivalent to more than 7 years.

The percentage of students evaluated at the highest level of achievement in mathematics was only 8% in the United States, while in China it reached 54%.

China also ranked first among participating countries in science average score with 597 points.

The United States scored 502 points, a gap of nearly 100 points.

WSJ asked, “Are you curious about why American companies want to hire highly skilled workers from overseas?” and pointed out, “American schools are not producing enough students with advanced engineering and math skills.”

WSJ has raised concerns that US politicians are lagging behind in competition with China and are mainly proposing industrial policies as a response, but the results of this PISA show that weakening educational competitiveness is a more fundamental problem for the US in the innovation competition with China.

At the same time, he argued that the solution cannot be found through simple financial injection.

WSJ pointed out that “higher spending per student does not automatically lead to higher academic achievement,” and that it is difficult to solve education problems by continuing to increase budgets for underperforming schools.