Stagnant statistics

On the day that Boris 'The Animal' Johnson is posed three IQ questions and fails to answer a single one of them correctly (I got two out of the three correct), proving that his argument that those with low IQ cannot be expected to succeed is bogus, the international league tables for maths, literacy and science are released, showing Britain inching ahead on maths (26th up from 28th in 2010 out of 65) and reading (23rd up from 25th) but falling slightly back on science (21st down from 16th).  But if we look at these so-called countries ahead of us three of them are part of China (as special economic zones Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao) and one is technically Chinese (Taiwan).  There are tiny nations also (population-wise, roughly five million or less) such as Finland, Estonia, Ireland, Singapore and, above all, Liechenstein.  I hardly think Britain needs to fear a competitiveness challenge from the miniscule, landlocked Alpine state, that doesn't even have a capital city but a principal town such is its size.  That Britain has a population of three score million means that by bulk we produce more top students than the last five nations put together.
Of striking note is the performance of Vietnam, to be kind, an 'emerging market' that finishes in the top 20 on all three scales and always ahead of the UK  It has a population of more than 88 million, but its economy is still at a low base.  The UK's main competitors that are beating us are South Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia.  These are countries of sizeable populations with developed economies.  On each of the measures, we beat the USA, if only just and America is not worried about its research base as much as commentators on these isles are.  The UK will never top the list due to the incredible demands many Far Eastern parents place on their children to succeed (another measure has it that South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the industrialised world - not a list one wants to top), but certainly can skim around the top ten bracket if the right policies are adopted.  Teaching to the test instead of holistically may, ironically for all its perceived usefulness for parents judging schools, may be one of those policies holding British talent back.