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I would like to point out two of my favorite high school competitions in Hungary. One is KöMaL [1]. It's a monthly journal, one has to send back solutions to t

I would like to point out two of my favorite high school competitions in Hungary. One is KöMaL [1]. It's a monthly journal, one has to send back solutions to the problems. The competition is during the whole school year. It has problems from math, physics and computer science, these are separate contests. I did the "P" (theoretical physics) competition. Sometimes I took a look for the "B" math problems and I could never solve a single "A" math problem, those are freaking insane. [1] https://www.komal.hu/info/miazakomal.e.shtml https://www.komal.hu/info/miazakomal.e.shtml The second competition is the Eötvös Physics Competition [2]. Unfortunately the problems are not translated to English. This is a single round competition for the whole country. There are three physics problems fitting on a piece of A4 paper (single sided). The students can use anything (any number of books, calculator), the competition is 5 hours long. All high school and first year university students participate in the same contest. It's designed to filter out the very best physics students in the whole country (typically only one or two students can fully solve all three problems). [2] http://eik.bme.hu/~vanko/fizika/eotvos.htm http://eik.bme.hu/~vanko/fizika/eotvos.htm

ptero 9y ago
Russia (Soviet Union actually) had somewhat similar mail in programs that IMO we're very useful to stimulate those with high interest in specific fields beyond what a school would do. IMO stimulating and developing top end is something sorely missing in US education, which is mostly focusing on helping those behind to catch up. That is useful, but pushing 1-2% of best students as far as possible is just as important for the society long term. My 2c.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  And mail in may be better than extra classes or similar, as it may avoid various "tall poppy" issues. And these days it can even be done electronically.
- Viliam1234 9y ago
  Similarly in Slovakia (and Czechoslovakia historically). The highest quality education on the elementary- and high-school level happened outside the school system. So if anyone wants to reproduce this strategy, they should give up on schools completely, and create a parallel system of education. Make it fun, allow competition (with no penalties for not being good enough; you just don't get the medal), and keep it voluntary. For the remaining 99% of population... probably something like Hejny method: https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0xsBjdMe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0xsBjdMe4

ptero 9y ago

Russia (Soviet Union actually) had somewhat similar mail in programs that IMO we're very useful to stimulate those with high interest in specific fields beyond what a school would do. IMO stimulating and developing top end is something sorely missing in US education, which is mostly focusing on helping those behind to catch up. That is useful, but pushing 1-2% of best students as far as possible is just as important for the society long term. My 2c.

digi_owl 9y ago
And mail in may be better than extra classes or similar, as it may avoid various "tall poppy" issues. And these days it can even be done electronically.
Viliam1234 9y ago
Similarly in Slovakia (and Czechoslovakia historically). The highest quality education on the elementary- and high-school level happened outside the school system. So if anyone wants to reproduce this strategy, they should give up on schools completely, and create a parallel system of education. Make it fun, allow competition (with no penalties for not being good enough; you just don't get the medal), and keep it voluntary. For the remaining 99% of population... probably something like Hejny method: https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0xsBjdMe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0xsBjdMe4