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Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by Void_ on Sunday January 22, 2017 @02:41AM (#13454156)
Haha, I'm from Central Europe and I competed in Maths Olympics since I was like 10. (Its a competition mostly in central/eastern europe).

This was around 2000 and we didnt have internet at home yet. So there was nothing better to do. Little worried about future generations.

But this is really pathetic. to ban algebra. I would leave the country.

Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by vostok on Sunday January 22, 2017 @02:49AM (#13454179)
> But this is really pathetic. to ban algebra. I would leave the country.

If mathematics education at the pre-university level is a priority for you then I'm not sure that leaving the country is the best approach.

https://www.imo-official.org/year_country_r.aspx?year=2016

Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by throw123142 on Sunday January 22, 2017 @03:09AM (#13454216)
Elite results do not say much about average education. UK also scored high on olympiad, but average UK public school is much worse compared to Central Europe.
Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by adrianN on Sunday January 22, 2017 @06:05AM (#13454669)
It's a question about what you want to optimize for. I believe that societies need elites for progress. People who can really push things forward tend to be those with the highest innate ability who happen to have an education that pushes them to the limits of their ability. Optimizing schools to raise the minimum or the average education level seems to have the effect that the maximum suffers.

There are great arguments why you'd want to raise the average education level, but I think sacrificing the best minds to this cause is short-sighted.

Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by dmaldona on Sunday January 22, 2017 @03:21PM (#13457182)
But elite education is not attainable for all pocket sizes.
Re:San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone? by Void_ on Monday January 23, 2017 @02:56AM (#13460608)
So China and US are at the top - but it's same as Canada/Russia having best ice hockey players. There is a huge pool to select from.