For context: I mainly do lots of coaching for FTC along with other STEM work for teens (a teen robotics competition) I had came mainly to visit some friends & family over from America.
I am just in shock to like how poor teen STEM education and overall competitions / related things are that bad in this country compared to North America.
To give some context: FTC is arguably the biggest robotics competition in the world for teens at least in western countries. I came and was curious and watched the UK Nationals competition for FTC.
The average score I had seen in the US is around 250-350 points is considered a normal at least. Scoring below 150-ish is basically considered a poor performance.
The current NATIONALS high score in the UK is sitting at around 199 points. With lots of teams at the 150 + scores sitting at some of the top in the UK nationals ranking.
The US leaderboard I believe is at 553 points with a gap of around 5 points-ish between the top teams on the top 10 leaderboard.
Can someone please explain this to me? I am just utterly like shocked to the core in a way to just see how poor STEM is for teens?