[watwut]

> The Russians we are comparing here, don't have any "better" teaching methods. They just suck it up and study what's there.

Not entirely. A lot of it is problem solving exercises as opposed to rote solve 20 exactly same problems in row seen in us books. Memorization won't help you solve those exercises. There is also les focus on arithmetic and more on equations much sooner.

If you actually like math, you will prefer Russian exercises, cause they challenge you.