in Hanoi where I am.  Parents want their kids to go to university and nobody wants to give them the bad news that their child isn't going to make it.  However,  their math skills blow away most American students simply because they spend so much time practicing.

I was the best student at French in my school and I could barely hold a conversation before I went to live in a French speaking country.  If the students don't have a way to practice English daily then, yes it is just studying for the test.  Here there is a 98% literacy rate on 1/50th of the US budget.

Go figure.

Don't waste your vote, vote Green or Independent in the next election.