Oh looky, an article about it:

http://www.vox.com/2014/4/20/5625086/th ... -heres-why

There's a logic to what they're doing. That I don't dispute. I just don't know if it's something that more than a fraction of kids are going to get. Nor do I believe that's where the problems with American's poor results in math lie.

The reasons that Japanese, South Koreans, and Chinese (as well as others) do so well in education is that their culture has developed a deep respect for education and for those who work hard to better themselves through education. As my brother-in-law likes to tell it (who lived most of his life in China) part of the reason that the student protests in China in 1989 were so feared by the Communist Party leaders was the fact that their society had a ton of respect for students. Two of the three largest factories around Beijing had voted to walk off the job to join the protests and support the students. The government agents quickly stepped in and negotiated a pre-emptive settlement with those workers to keep them on the job. The next day, the Tienanmen Square Massacre began.

I think my nose started bleeding after seeing that image...