Siow Yue Chia cautioned that PISA only provides information on a small educational segment of 15-year-old students. Given Singapore's sustained position at the top of the PISA results, however, Chia argued that it is instructive to look at the resource, curricular, pedagogical, and results factors that explain this outcome. Starting with resources, Chia noted that the paper argues that countries are not investing resources in education at a disproportionate level, but this measure only looks at contributions that are derived through the public sector, and does not capture household investments in the education of children. This omission is particularly important for countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, where families contribute significantly to their children's education.
On the dimension of curriculum, Chia observed that Japan's industrial development emphasis led to curricula that emphasized technical, scientific, and mathematical subjects. Although these choices were developed in support of Japan's economic...