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I always wondered if they just said that, as part of bluster. Hard to believe entire classes of graduate math students are at a lower level than all 11th grade Russians. (It wasn't just the first year undergrads I heard of getting scolded by Russian lecturers)

I know Russia values math highly and does push their students, but there's a limit to believability.

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Having worked with a few asian/eastern engineers, I do believe that a number of things conspire against western maths education: our culture doesn't value mathematics competency (in some circles people are even afraid to admit to an interest); the way we teach maths here in .au is bloody awful (standardized tests make teachers hate their jobs); and teaching generally is a much less respected/lower-paid profession relative to other occupations compared to better-performing countries (so our quality of teachers is much worse).

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