[cyberax]

One thing (in retrospect) that I love about the xUSSR school system, is its focus on competitive math and physics.

There's a robust multi-level system of "Olympiads", starting from the neighborhood level, and going all the way up to the national level. Every student knows about them, and more importantly, "magnet schools" scoop up students who do well in competitions.

This works really well for math, and so pretty much every Fields medal award ceremony has awardees from the xUSSR countries.

I'm really surprised that this kind of system is not more widespread, especially in the US. After all, sports and competition is kinda a thing here?