Yes, I should qualify my experience somewhat - I don't think I learned any math till around grade 6 (btw the town I lived in had the second highest expenditure

Yes, I should qualify my experience somewhat - I don't think I learned any math till around grade 6 (btw the town I lived in had the second highest expenditure per student in State - this is not just a underfunded school system problem). English classes were particularly bad as well. I'd imagine in Russia you read Pushkin in first or second grade. In the US I don't think we were assigned an English classic instead of one of those bestselling children novels till grade 7 or 8. Around Highschool it got a lot better, classes became differentiated based on student levels, also AP courses (we were offered the opportunity to take other AP subjects which weren't taught in school for free online as well). Also I certainly don't think IPads are the cure here, as far as I am concerned ed-tech is a blatant scam to build a business from poor administrative use of tax-payer money.