I completed grades 1, 2, 3, and 5 in the USSR, right before its breaking apart. (I skipped grade 4 not because I was exceptionally smart, but because of the conversion from 10- to 11-year system.)
I went to an average public school, not like a specialized math-heavy school, which also existed.
Then I moved to the U.S. and started 6th grade, decent public school in a major city.
I went to ESL class instead of regular English. Some of the history stuff was new to me. I struggled with integrating and being bullied, though not too badly.
But as far as math and science goes, I was coasting up until 9th grade, when I started high school.
In 8th grade, I was added to the "gifted" program, which basically meant I spent one period a week hanging out with the other gifted kids doing I don't even remember what.
I've been told that while USSR designed its cirruculum to be passable by 80% of the students, in the U.S. it's designed to be passable by close to 100%. Which means that even if your child is smart, they'll be dragging along with the least capable 20% of the school population, doing busywork and being bored, wasting their time instead of learning all they could be at the most capable time of their life.
(Russia's current education system has been stripped and crippled, so it's on par or worse than U.S. now.)
As a former high school teacher, as intuitive as this seems, it's dubious at best. To truly have "access," you need a lot of things in place (nutrition, sleep, prerequisite learning, a good school, an experienced teacher), and a lot of things not getting in the way (other kids, the institution, the teacher, circumstances). The bar is much lower for Outschool to hit the target.
I went to an average public school, not like a specialized math-heavy school, which also existed.
Then I moved to the U.S. and started 6th grade, decent public school in a major city.
I went to ESL class instead of regular English. Some of the history stuff was new to me. I struggled with integrating and being bullied, though not too badly.
But as far as math and science goes, I was coasting up until 9th grade, when I started high school.
In 8th grade, I was added to the "gifted" program, which basically meant I spent one period a week hanging out with the other gifted kids doing I don't even remember what.
I've been told that while USSR designed its cirruculum to be passable by 80% of the students, in the U.S. it's designed to be passable by close to 100%. Which means that even if your child is smart, they'll be dragging along with the least capable 20% of the school population, doing busywork and being bored, wasting their time instead of learning all they could be at the most capable time of their life.
(Russia's current education system has been stripped and crippled, so it's on par or worse than U.S. now.)