I'm a Swede who returned to their native Croatia in the late 90s and early 2000s and found that kids were learning maths on a much more advanced level than we were in Sweden.
I've throughout my life learned that this goes for most of eastern europe. I can't explain why. If it's a more demanding education or if they have some sort of genetic/environmental predisposition for maths.
But the phenomenon has been pretty consistent in my experience with people from Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and the balkans.
One memory that stuck with me was how the village children would come back from their last day at school, beginning of summer, and show off their report cards.
Dozens of happy kids walking along a dirt road with their report cards in hand, ready to show them off to any adult that might give them a few Kuna or candy for the effort.
I've throughout my life learned that this goes for most of eastern europe. I can't explain why. If it's a more demanding education or if they have some sort of genetic/environmental predisposition for maths.
But the phenomenon has been pretty consistent in my experience with people from Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and the balkans.
One memory that stuck with me was how the village children would come back from their last day at school, beginning of summer, and show off their report cards.
Dozens of happy kids walking along a dirt road with their report cards in hand, ready to show them off to any adult that might give them a few Kuna or candy for the effort.
I was shocked, having been raised in Sweden.