Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by visarga on Wednesday April 22, 2020 @02:12AM (#22942767)

Same situation in Romania, some of the best math problem books I found were a bunch of books printed before 1980's. The problems were just wonderful. I was desperately searching for them for my kids through my father's library.

In 1990's after the revolution we got humanitarian aid from Western Europe, including some French math textbooks. They were so low level (simple) I was in disbelief. Useless.

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Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by TeMPOraL on Wednesday April 22, 2020 @03:32AM (#22943133)

I had the same reaction in Poland, when my grandfather gave me some textbooks from his collection. They were an order of magnitude better than what I was using at school.

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Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by ddalex on Wednesday April 22, 2020 @09:39AM (#22945390)

and, somehow, the economic and social system in France is much better than the one in Romania

my take is that the western-style school focuses on getting students life skills, while the eastern-Europe one focuses on cramming knowledge in the brain

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Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by visarga on Sunday April 26, 2020 @12:14PM (#22988152)

Maybe it's also the context, the gradual buildup France had over Romania at the time and now. Romania endured the communist regime for many decades and was very much isolated.

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