Namba 17
Registered User
- May 9, 2011
- 1,636
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I'm not a mathematician either (I studied further mathematics, though), so I can't compare Soviet math education and NA or European ones. Russian/Soviet math school was one of the best in the world in the end of XIX - XX century, though. A lot of great names + the whole system of math study, including the net of specialized secondary schools with enhanced education in physics and mathematics. These schools situated in big cities and collected the most gifted pupils from neighbor regions to develop their talent further. There were schools' Mathematical Olympiads for pupils of usual schools - Olympiads of cities, regions, republics, state's, international. It was very prestigious to participate there and much more prestigious to make top-3 or even top-10 (depends on level of competition). Teachers noticed gifted pupils and asked them to represent their school on Olympiad of lower level. Prize winners of Olympiads of lower level could participate on Olympiad of higher level etc. The most gifted were taken to special schools and after they finished it - to the best universities. It was the whole system of finding and developing talents.I have the strong impression that if you were a gifted student in math in the post-war era, you were better off being born in the Soviet Union than in North America and or the West in general (except perhaps, France, which had an immense intellectual effervescence after WWII).
While I'm no mathematician, I know a bit about the field and its history, and the Russians/Soviets are highly respected and probably not as famous as they deserve.
As for being born in Soviet Union... well, you'd better not being born there at all before 1953 And after that, standard of living in USSR was much lower than in NA and lower than in some of European countries... but Math was great, though