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Comment by sakopov | Hacker News Reader

I'm Russian and feeling liiiitle bit proud right about now. :) I'm his age and we're the last generation of soviet-era school graduates. Russian educational system is in one enormously epic crapper right now and people like this guy are going to be a real rarity in Russia.

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That's sad. I've had nothing but positive experiences working with Russians (both in the US and working with some remotely).

This is possibly both racist (nationalist/) and anecdotal, but I've noticed that russian programmers think more like their US counterparts than some other ethnic groups that were educated in their home countries...

The current high school level in Russia is not so bad guys.

These are results of the last International Olympiad in Informatics (2012, Italy):

1. China - 4 gold out of 4 - total score 1847

2. Russia - 4 gold out of 4 - total score 1765

3. USA - 3 gold and 1 bronze - total score 1637

http://www.ioi2012.org/competition/results-2/

Dude no offence, but if you're his age (like me) you went to school in 1991-1992 and graduated in 2001-2002, not really "soviet era".

I should clarify. I am not old enough, you're absolutely right. But I had old staff teaching me and everyone in my age group. Some teachers in my school were same ones who taught my parents. Most of these people have since retired and if you walk into almost any school now they comprise maybe 10% of the staff. I guess what i should have said is we're the last generation to receive soviet-era education.

Is there any movement for educational reform coursing through Russian politics? If so, which party takes this stance?

We are in process of continuous education reform since at least 1917. Latest rumored stage is aggregation of universities to make artificially big ratings. Everybody understand that this is stupid but Putin is unstoppable megalomaniac.

You mean money talks right ... so if you can afford it, can you can get a good education? If so, that's ironic, given that free education was one of the success stories of the USSR.

Money would likely get you better education. The problem stems from the fact that those who taught my age group have retired and the replacements aren't good enough mainly because Russian government abandoned educational sector just like they abandoned sports since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Everything's beginning to hurt right now because these people are entering work force and most of them don't have the skills, talent or drive to teach.

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