I'll echo many of the other comments here -- seems like the Eastern Bloc's math education really out-shone the West's. I came to Canada mid-way through high sc

I'll echo many of the other comments here -- seems like the Eastern Bloc's math education really out-shone the West's. I came to Canada mid-way through high school, and breezed through with little to no effort until my 2nd year of university. I remember math class in elementary school, how everything was explained, and if you were clever enough you could see where the teacher was going with the rest of the story, because everything inherently made sense. This type of learning instilled in me a deep comfort with math - knowing that you can always break down a problem into a set of familiar problems, that proofs are kind of like nested Russian dolls, and that you can synthesize a solution out of first principles if you're persistent enough.