So this is fun: as we increasingly rely more and more on standardized testing as a measure of achievement, China, who we spend so much time worrying we’re falling behind, is moving away from them:

‘When American high school students are discussing the latest models of airplanes, satellites and submarines, China’s smartest students are buried in homework and examination papers,’ said Ni Minjing a physics teacher who is the director of the Shanghai Education Commission’s basic education department, according to Shanghai Daily, an English-language newspaper. ‘Students also have few chances to do scientific experiments and exercise independent thinking.’