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I have never been to the US so I can't comment on what s wrong exactly. But in India, we do have parallels and atleast from that perspective, there are some things that Indians, both parents and teachers do that is helping to alleviate the situation. I am not sure if this will help the American part of the problem but I hope it does.

1) Critical thinking comes in 2 ways, either by being put in real situations or by simulating situations and being asked how one would react to circumstances. With India, problematic situations have always been numerous and Indians learn to haggle, negotiate and finally find workarounds to problems. As life gets better, the richer kids are losing this skill and so, are less prepared to face troubling situations as the average middle-class kids.
2) Competition in schools: I think this is a very important reason why Indians today are competent. This may not prepare them for what their employers require from them in terms of certain skillsets but the ability to size up competition and take measures to meet it comes naturally when a person has to compete to stay afloat in a class of 60 people (atleast) in most junior high schools, 100+ people in senior high-schools and so on. Companies don't expect people to know everything when they join, the idea is to be able to learn quickly.
3) Pushy parents: I come from a middle-class family. My parents were never happy with my grades in school. If I didn't stand first they weren't happy, if I did, then they would be happy but it would be more like "Next time, increase that lead". Indian kids have a lot to live up to. Their parents' expectations are among the hardest. Its also why you find few sportsmen worthy of mention ever coming out of India. Most parents don't care how good you are at soccer if you're failing your science paper.

Hope this helps.

Pushy parents
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MimirsWell,

My husband has a Ph.D. in clinical chemistry and worked for Du Pont and with many Asian scientists. He told me that one woman ( an Asian scientists) would point out to her children all the hot and dirty jobs people did for a living. She would say to her children that if they didn't study and get and education, they would be stuck doing those jobs as adults. She was flat-out **serious**!

My husband thought this was a great idea and he too did this with our children.

It must have worked. Our homeschooling children were admitted to college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13. All finished all their general college requirements and Calculus III at the age of 15. The two younger graduated with B.S. degrees in mathematics at the ages of 18. The older of these two recently finished a masters in mathematics.

The oldest of the three is a nationally and internationally ranked athlete and chose accounting as a major. Since he could do this degree in the evening, it meshed well with his heavy training and travel schedule. At nineteen, he interrupted his athletic training and studies to work in Eastern Europe for 2 years with our church. He returned home fluent in Russian. He returned last year and will soon finish his degree at an age when his contemporaries are finishing theirs. He has resumed his athletics.