<p>I suspect that some of the problem we see here is really the unfortunate flipside of one of the U.S.'s great virtues–personal freedom and value of individuality. Perhaps American students feel more free to think that certain kinds of questions are “stupid” and certain kinds of skills are unnecessary to them. They know, for example, that they will be able to go to college even if they don’t do all that well on standardized tests, which is not the case in all countries. The challenge is to fix this attitude without taking away the freedom and individuality.</p>