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UC Irvine UC Irvine Previously Published Works Title Mathematics achievement of Chinese, Japanese, and American children: ten years later. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rh630g0 Journal Science (New York, N.Y.), 259(5091) ISSN 0036-8075 Authors Stevenson, HW Chen, C Lee, SY Publication Date 1993 DOI 10.1126/science.8418494 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California ARTICLES Zool. inst. Akad. nauk SSSR 131, 104 (1985). 1985), pp. 225-241; C. T. Keally, Curr. Res. exhibit evidence of entrance tunnels (57). 57. N. N. D1kov. Arkheotcgicheskie pamyatniki Kam Pleistocene 7, 143 (1990) 82. J . H. Greenberg, C. G. Turner II , S. L. Zegura, chatki. Chukotki I Verkhne1 Kotymy (Nauka, Mos 81. Some of the contrasts in the Beringian archaeo Curr. Anlhropol. 27, 477 (1986). row. 1977). logical record between the occupations associat· 83 Support for our research in the northern foothills of 58. A. V. Lozhkin and V. P. Parii, Opyt radiouglerod ed with the 12.000 to 11 ,000 yr B.P. interstad1al the Alaska Range was provided by the National nogo datirovamya verkhnechetvertichnykh otloz and those associated with the 11 .000 to 9.500 yr Geographic Society. the National Science Foun henii (Akademiya nauk SSSR. Magadan, 1985) B.P. stadiaJ may reflect chmahc differences. dahon, Alaska Division of Parks, the Unive<sity of 59. M. A. Kir'yak, 1n Drevnie pamyatniki Severa Dal Nenana Complex assemblages contain p11k;es Alaska, and the National Park Service. Additional ·nego Vostoka (Akademrya nauk SSSR. Magadan, esquillees and planes. wt11ch may be related to support for manuscript preparatK>n was provided 1990), pp. 35-52. woodworking, whereas Denah assemblages yield by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract 60. J. A. Graham and R. F Heizer. Ouaternaria 9. 225 numerous burins, which appear to have been W-31-109-Eng-38. An earlier draft of this paper (1968). R. G. Klein, Ouat Res. 5, 391 (1975), A. J. used on bone, antler, and ivory. Traces of former was reviewed by T. A. Ager, J. P. Cook, M E. Jelinek, Am. Antiq 57, 345 (1992). dwelling structures are reported from both layers Edwards. D. M. Hopkins, K. E. LaGory, D J 61 . T. F. Lynch, Am. Antiq 55, 12 (1990). 7 and 6 at Ushki t. but only those from layer 6 Meltzer, C. F. Waythomas, and F. H. West. 62. T. D. Dillehay. Sci. Am. 251 , 106 (April. 1984). 63. C. V. Haynes. Rev Archaeol. 12, 8 (1991). 64. Thousands of field surveys have been conducted 1n mid-latitude North America during the past few decades, and many of them have sampled geo Mathematics Achievement of morph1c contexts that would be suitable for re mains dating between 20.000 and 12,000 yr B.P. (such as cave deposits. loess, or alluvium in major Chinese, Japanese, and American river valleys). The results present a stark contrast to findings in northern Eurasia, which has yielded abundant evidence of human settlement in this Children: Ten Years Later time range from comparable settings (60). 65. E. J. Dixon, R. M. Thorson. D. C. Plaskett. Nall. Geogr. Soc. Res. Rep. 20, 129 (1985). 66. R. E. Ackerman, "The Archeology of the Central Harold W. Stevenson, Chuansheng Chen, Shin-Ying Lee Kuskokwim Region" (National Geographic Socie ty, Washington, DC. 1982), J. F. Hoffecker and A decade of heightened emphasis in the United States on mathematics and science C. F. Waythomas, Curr Res. Pleistocene 8, 105 {1991). education has had little influence on academic achievement or parental attitudes. American 67. J. F. Hoffecker. J Archaeol. Sci. 15, 683 (1988). elementary school children in 1990 lagged behind their Chinese and Japanese peers to 68. C. V. Haynes. Can. J. Anthropot 1, 115 (1980). as great a degree as they did in 1980. Comparison of the performance of elementary and 69. R. Bonnichsen and K. L Turnmire. Eds.. Clovis: secondary school students between 1980 and 1990 reveals a decline from first to eleventh Ongms and Adap(atl()()S (Center for the Study of the F1rs1 Americans, Corvallis, OR, 1992). grade in the relative position of American students in mathematics. Parental satisfaction 70. C. V Haynes. 1n (20). pp. 383-398. with American students' achievement and education remains high and standards remain 71 . __, Ouat. Res 35, 438 (1991) low. Innate ability continues to be emphasized by Americans as a basis for achievement. 72. --· paper presenled at 1he Firs1 Soviet-Amer ican Archaeological Symposium on Upper American eleventh graders report more indications of stress than do their Chinese and Pateohthic-Pateo1nd1an AdaptatK>ns. Leningrad. Japanese counterparts. U.S.S R.. 10 to 13 July, 1989: G. C. Frison, in (26), pp. 118-122. 73. T. H. Dillehay, G. A Calderon, G. Politis, M. Bellrao, J. World Prehistory6, 145 (1992). 74. C. V. Haynes. Sci. Am. 214, 104 (June, 1966): R. T he American educational system re cause Minnesota students rank high among L. Humphrey. Curr. Anthropol. 7, 586 {1966). ceived greater attention and scrutiny in the the states in mathematics achievement, 75. Many researchers beheve that the northern fluted points are of Holocene age and reflect either 1980s than in any decade since the 1950s. and Minnesota has the highest percentage independent local developmen1 or influence from President Bush and governors proposed an in the nation of students graduating from 1he North American Plains (9. 52). educational agenda for the nation, commis high school (2, 3). When problems are 76. T. Goebel, W. R. Powers, N. H. Bigelow, in (69). pp. 49-79. sions were appointed, and boards of educa fou nd in Minnesota, more severe ones 77. Examples of small bifacial points in Clovis assem tion and school systems throughout the might be expected to occur in many other blages 1ha1 exhibit thinned, concave bases but country attempted to initiate reforms aimed states. lack classic flutes can be found in: J . J . Hester, E. at improving the academic achievement of L. Lundelius. R. Fryxell. Blackwater Locality No. 1 Four years after our original study, we (Publ. 8, Fort Burgwln Research Center, Southern American students. We are now at a point, returned to the same schools and followed Methodist University. Ranchos de Taos, TX, 10 years after the reform movement began, up the first graders who were now fifth 1972). Fig. 896: R. M. Gramly. Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. 30 (1982). Plate 9H where it is useful to ask whether these graders. No significant improvement oc 78. Beside fluting, the most significant difference be activities have resulted in any improvement curred in the mathematics achievement of tween the Clovis and Nenana projectile points is in the performance of the students. Minneapolis fifth graders during the 4 years, the greater size (especially length) of the former. In 1980, we initiated a comparative and cross-cultural differences were as great This size difference could reflect the increased abundance of high-quality chert available to the study of American, Japanese, and Chinese in 1984 as they had been in 1980 (4). 1nhabl1ants of 1he North Amencan Ptains. elementary school students in Minneapolis, We began a new study in 1990. Once 79. Dunng the Last Glacial Maximum, humans occu Sendai Qapan), and Taipei {Taiwan). The again we visited the schools included in the p.ed the largely treeless Dnepr-Desna Basin of the Russian Plain, using mammal bone for fuel. results showed that Chinese and Japanese original study and tested a third sample of They may have been at least partly dependent on first and fifth graders greatly surpassed their fifth graders. We also attempted to locate large natural concent.rations of trozen green bone American counterparts in mathematics and the first graders we had tested in 1980 {who [J F. Hoffecker. thesis, University of Chicago (1986)). Although such concenlratlons also accu chat Chinese children were more capable were now eleventh graders) to trace their mulated in major basins of Beringia (such as the readers than the Americans (I). subsequent levels of academic achieve Kolyma (34) and Tanana (27)) during the Late The low levels of achievement found in ment. To supplement the longitudinal sam Pleistocene, these areas "WOUid have been effec tively isolated from human populations by the Minneapolis are especially worrisome be- ple, we tested over 1000 eleventh graders in broad uplands of southwestern Beringia. each city- Data from the samples of students 80. C. M. Aikens and T. Higuchi, Prehistory of Japan H. W. Stevenson is a professor of psychology and tested in 1980, 1984, and 1990 and 1991 (Academic Press. New York, 1982): Gai Pei, in S.-Y. Lee is an assistant research scientist at the form the basis of this article- These data Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeolo University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109. C. Chen gy in /he People's Republic of China. Wu Rukang is an assistant professor of social ecology at the allow us co assess possible changes in the and J. Olsen. Eds. (Academic Press, London. University of California, Irvine, CA 92717. performance of elementary school students SCIENCE • VOL. 259 • I JANUARY 1993 53 Flg .1. (A) Fifth graders' performance on mathematics 20 test given at three testing periods for students from .,35 A ~ ~ !J (A), (0 ), Japan Taiwan and the United States (• ). ~ 15 Standard deviations for 1980: 6.45, 4.52, and 4.70, ~30 ~ .." respectively. The comparable values for 1984 were c =.. 10 5.82, 5.68, and 5.07 and for 1990were 5.34, 5.41, and : 25 0 5.21 . Sample sizes: 239, 240, and 244 (1980); 165, ::E 164, and 118 (1984); and 273, 242, and 241 (1990) .