Test Score Apathy

This makes a lot of sense to me as an explanation for why American students fare so poorly on international tests. My senior year I was stubborn as hell, and wanted to do well for the sake of doing well—I'm probably the only high school student in America who worked harder his senior year than any other. But even I had trouble caring on the optional affects-nothing tests (I considered walking out on a couple), and I almost certainly wouldn't have put in much effort for a test I wouldn't even get the results of.