I grew up in Russia, and education system at the time was mostly the same as it was in Soviet times.

Still, there was a whole system of special schools, both for high and low achievers. I have went to a “math/physics” grade school from the start, and subsequently changed schools two times, each time through hard entrance exams, to finally end up in the most challenging/prestigious school in the country.

It's completely mind boggling to me that a communist country has such a system, but a capitalist country is trying to bring everyone to common denominator.