[ChuckNorris89]

A lot of this culture still exists today in the post communist countries. Romania has a poor education system that fails most average people who don't go to the handful of elite schools in its wealthiest cities, but leads Europe in medals won at STEM olympiads versus Finland which has the best school system in EU but doesn't win any olympiad medals. This system creates and endemic educational inequality in Romania where few students are very well educated, above western standards, and the vast majority of students are poorly educated and will be stuck in a circle of poverty and sometimes crime and alcohol abuse in the countryside.

It's a relic from the past where the eastern socialist block was very preoccupied with projecting an image of power superiority over the "dumber" and "weaker" west, so investing massive resources in prepping a few younglings in STEM olympiads, along with sports olympics and chess were a way to assert that superiority over the west. As such, back then, if you studied hard and got into a good STEM university you were set for an easy and stable carrier in a big city where the government would provide you with a nice apartment and great school for your future kids. It's how my dad managed to escape one of the poorest villages in the country and move to a big city with a nice job, until everything collapsed in '89 that is and everyone was now broke.

Now it's a pointless endevour as those olympiad medal winners immediately go to ivy league universities, propping up the US economy instead, who doesn't need to invest much in its lower education system as it gets the best students from abroad anyway.

[petre]

It doesn't matter if a few elite students win the olympiad. They'll leave the country anyway, making its investment into education moot.

[ChuckNorris89]

>It doesn't matter if a few elite students win the olympiad.

It matters in the way that it projects an image abroad that the Romanian education system must be really good if so many grads from there win medals and go to ivy league universities. Even though this ads absolutely no value for Romania.

[petre]

Yes, the image abroad is fine, but the reality in the country is a disaster with kids dropping out of school and rampant functional illiteracy. Needless to say about plagiarism cases among politicians with PhDs. Even the PM is fighting plagiarism accusations in an ongoing court case.