America's dismal results on international tests

In response to the article in my last email about Japan responding to the educational challenge by India, a friend sent me this comment:

What’s frightening though is that while Japan is working to improve its still high international rankings, the U.S. lags way below especially in science, math, and problem solving at 18th-24th out of 29 developed nations (scores worsen as students get older, stuck in our failing school system)  http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2007doc.nsf/LinkTo/NT000058B2/$FILE/JT03237658.PDF and http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,3343,en_2649_37455_39713238_1_1_1_37455,00.html.