U.S. Slips to Third in International Science and Math Competitions

It's important to acknowledge just how much randomness goes into the process every year - some years the US team is very strong, other years some of the competitors have a bad day. Students graduate, or decide to pursue a different summer activity, and there often isn't anyone on the same level to replace them. Saying that the US "slipped" to third is just nonsense.

The fact that China's performance in the IMO is so consistent year after year is a bit mind-boggling, to be honest. I suspect that part of their dominance is a heavy focus on algebra, which is all about consistently getting the job done. Top US students are more likely to have studied "fun" math, like combinatorics, geometry, or number theory - and even if you are a superstar at combinatorics, you can still miss an easy combinatorics problem if you happen not to see the right way to look at it.

I'd also be curious to see who is on the US team. My guess is immigrants or children of immigrants make up a large part.

Meanwhile, California wants to “decolonize” math class and they also want to get rid of programs for gifted children who excel at accelerated material. I wonder how softer roll-outs of these ideologically-motivated changes to education over the years have affected the USA. Perhaps those changes are now culminating in this deterioration of our performance globally. We need to right the ship.

It should not be surprising given the amount of time US high schools devoted to this types of activities compared to sports …