Contemporary scholars, however, have since contradicted the popular conclusions from the Kraus-Weber comparative study. The results of the Kraus-Weber tests importantly showed no stratification between wealthy and poor children, thus casting doubt on the idea that decadent lifestyles were the cause of high failure rate. Practice was the key to succeeding at the tests, which Kraus and Weber noted themselves in their research. Physical education in European schools was more similar to the calisthenic-type exercises given on the test, therefore European children had more experience with the test's movements, and performed better. The test also did not measure fitness in a holistic sense, and thus was not necessarily an indicator of general physical fitness in the way American officials and media supposed.
