This is not politically correct to say, but given the gap between white and black scores, I wonder how the US would do if you ranked it based only on white scores.
Also, when judging how well a country will do in science you should not look at the average, but rather at the top. Only a small number of people will choose a career in the sciences, so as long as you have those people, the ones at the bottom don't matter for this purpose - they bring down the average, but don't prevent a country from being a leader in research and development.
Also, when judging how well a country will do in science you should not look at the average, but rather at the top. Only a small number of people will choose a career in the sciences, so as long as you have those people, the ones at the bottom don't matter for this purpose - they bring down the average, but don't prevent a country from being a leader in research and development.