All around the world, governments are using international benchmarking of education systems as the method to identify the top performing countries. After the world best education systems have been identified, they are used as models for the rest of the countries. This procedure has an obvious limitation: if the rankings are obtained assessing content and methods already established, these are perpetuated. New curriculum and methodologies are difficult to integrate into existing education systems. Research in the last two decades has shown the limitations of the current education systems and the need to incorporate new paradigms. However, the current method that the governments use to design their education systems makes the adoption of radically new paradigms a highly risky proposition. This paper reviews the limitations of the current education systems, in particular in the area of mathematics. It discusses a set of fundamental changes in curriculum and teaching methodology. Finally, it reviews the role of e-learning as an integral part of the transition from traditional education systems to modern systems.