The Myth of Chinese Superschools

It's a bit more complicated than this; the Confucian system involved and involves a lot more than rote learning, and rote learning is seriously undervalued in the modern West, but this piece makes good points about slavishly valuing standardized tests. They have nothing to do with the real world, and distort the process is weird ways.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/nov/20/myth-chinese-super-schools/