Probably you have heard about the so-called East Asian “tiger moms”, who push their children, make them pursue their goals, and don’t recognize “I can’t” as a valid response. In the case of South Korea, the system is not warm-and-fuzzy when it comes to education, as is the case in more flexible Finland, with whom this tiger country shares the top spot. There is certainly no universal educational system which works for every culture and mentality. However, thanks to PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results we can observe that these two diametrically opposite systems have something in common: persistence and hard work, which got them both out of potential crises.