Shanghai has the world’s smartest teens

The world’s smartest teens live in the city of Shanghai in China. This year pupils from 65 different countries took part in the Program for International Student Assessment (also known as PISA), which compares the ability of 15-year-olds around the world in literacy, math and science.

This was the first time pupils in China took part in the assessment, which has been happening every three years since 2000. The pupils in Shanghai got the best results in all three subjects. South Korea came second in literacy, Finland came second in math and Singapore came second in science.

Education expert Chester E. Finn Jr. has visited schools all over China. He told reporters that he expects other Chinese cities to follow Shanghai’s lead. “I've seen how hard the Chinese work. If they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in ten cities by 2019 and in 50 cities by 2029,” he said.