As the center of the world economy shifts east, so does excellence in education. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday said the education systems in Shanghai, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have proved they are outstanding, and "American parents looking to send their children to the world's best schools might want to start looking East."

Until recently, the Western world did better throughout primary, secondary and higher education, but since 2000 at least primary and secondary education in Asian countries has made big strides.

The four Asian countries topped in the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment which assessed 15-year-old students of OECD countries in reading, math and scientific literacy. Shanghai students were two or three years ahead of students in the U.S. and the U.K. in math, while students in Korea and Hong Kong were more than one year ahead.

And the progress continues at a rapid pace. In reading, Hong Kong students jumped to 2nd in 2006 from 17th in 2001, while Singapore students went up from 15th to 4th over the same period. The difference in abilities between students in the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent was the smallest in Korea, followed by Shanghai and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the education budget per student in Korea was only 60 percent that in the U.S., far below the OECD average, and the number of students per class in the four nations was 35 to 40, much more than Western countries' 21 to 23.

SOURCE / The Chosunilbo Korea