I have a feeling it was more about the quality of the teachers than anything else. I moved from “Deep” Russia itself to the periphery of the USSR (Bulgaria) wh

I have a feeling it was more about the quality of the teachers than anything else. I moved from “Deep” Russia itself to the periphery of the USSR (Bulgaria) when I was in first grade, and my parents had the foresight to make me repeat that grade so as to help me with learning a new language. The quality difference was astounding. In 1992 Russia by first grade I was learning english with flash cards technique, drawing human shapes, animation, perspective, and some pretty good maths. The knowledge I gained there allowed me to learn almost nothing but the language up until about 3rd grade. And it was a school in the middle of nowhere. I think the USSR trained some very good teachers and just sent them around everywhere, places they would not have gone themselves on their own volition kinda thing. Oh and I remember teachers where highly respected, a thing I saw slowly degrade while the country was going through the 90s reforms.