It is argued that Stankov's proposal to view unforgivingness as underlying the combination of high educational achievement, anxiety, and self-doubt is an original way of summarizing Confucian score patterns. However, it is argued that the proposal cannot explain why reading scores in Confucian countries are not higher than in other countries and…

This paper reviews findings from several studies that contribute to our understanding of cross-cultural differences in academic achievement, anxiety and self-doubt. The focus is on comparisons between Confucian Asian and European regions. Recent studies indicate that high academic achievement of students from Confucian Asian countries is…