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Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

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Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#601

Post by andrewzah »

Koshkin wrote: post #574
gambiting wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Polish universities are completely free. And yes, British universities are not free, they have recently gotten pretty expensive(£9000/year), with the exception of Scottish ones which have different rules.

"Pretty expensive" is a relative term. For comparison, one year's cost of tuition at Boston University is $53,000, plus $16,000 housing, plus $1,000 for books and supplies.

Don't forget parking. My university realized they could charge upwards of $400/semester for a spot in one of the few garages. With all the housing being built now I imagine in a few years it'll be $600+.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#602

Post by sergiotapia »

champagneben wrote: post #432
sergiotapia wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is common core, and the reason why it was created will shock and enrage you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ8Nr3_2724 Straight from the horses mouth.

He wanted poorer, minority kids to have a chance at a good education and high standards as well? Wasn't very shocking, though the title was incendiary.

He tries to do that not by elevating people, but by dragging people down. I'm not OK with this.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#603

Post by GoblinSlayer »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #409
a-saleh wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, universities in Czech republic went through a simmilar scheme, but they'd get disproportionately more funds per head-count of first-year students (on-boarding, I guess?) Several universities switched from entrance exams to a system of "Everybody gets in, it is the first semester that will probably kill you" :-)

Same in Poland for more than a decade. It's an open secret here that universities admit many more students than they can handle in order to capture extra funding, and then get rid of the excess after the first year. On my first year, the amount of students was 2x the actual capacity. The first semester was very math-heavy, and everyone knew we had the toughest and CS-unrelated subjects delivered up front in order to…

My university did it, but because the entrance exams can't evaluate students well, while a semester is quite a more precise and prolonged test.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#604

Post by Koshkin »

collyw wrote: post #419
WillPostForFood wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the opposite of what I've seen in California. There used to be a big focus on tracking, gifted programs and "accelerated math", but it is now perceived as inequitable. Gifted programs were cancelled, tracks eliminated, and accelerated math discouraged (you can skip a year if you study outside school, but it is discouraged). The focus is getting everyone to some minimal level, and no attention on the high perfo…

Ironic that Russia is pushing for excellence while the States is pushing for equality.

Where's the irony? (Not sure which one is worse.)

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#605

Post by andrewzah »

sacks2k wrote: post #534
missosoup wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think on average the difference between a high school student from Russia and US is negligible I went to high school in Russia and then moved to Australia. The difference was immense. It felt like i just dropped 2 year levels. Even the accelerated programs were hopelessly behind the regular curriculum for my age group in Russia. AU/US high school students can't possibly compete against RU or CN high school studen…

"hence domestically popular tv shows like Big Bang Theory which have 0 audience in countries that value intellect" It's shown in 180 countries worldwide and very popular internationally (Including Russia): https://bigbangtheory.fandom.com/wiki/International_broadcas... While I don't necessarily love the show, I've known many PHD students from China, Taiwan, and Korea that absolutely love the show. Hardly from countri…

> 2 year olds aren't adults and shouldn't take on adult responsibilities.

While this is true, I think we often don't give kids enough credit either. Around that age they can be quite capable.

I think we've gone too far the other way and just don't push kids whatsoever, so now most 18 year olds are completely clueless as they head into college. This is compounded by USA's growing anti-intellectualism where we're proud to be bad at math, argue about having to study literature, and so on.

> It's shown in 180 countries worldwide and very popular internationally (Including Russia):

I can make this same argument about a Korean tv show called Running Man, which is indeed popular abroad... to niche audiences, like me. :-) I probably wouldn't argue with a Russian person about what shows are popular in their country, though.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#606

Post by eeZah7Ux »

sacks2k wrote: post #534
missosoup wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think on average the difference between a high school student from Russia and US is negligible I went to high school in Russia and then moved to Australia. The difference was immense. It felt like i just dropped 2 year levels. Even the accelerated programs were hopelessly behind the regular curriculum for my age group in Russia. AU/US high school students can't possibly compete against RU or CN high school studen…

"hence domestically popular tv shows like Big Bang Theory which have 0 audience in countries that value intellect" It's shown in 180 countries worldwide and very popular internationally (Including Russia): https://bigbangtheory.fandom.com/wiki/International_broadcas... While I don't necessarily love the show, I've known many PHD students from China, Taiwan, and Korea that absolutely love the show. Hardly from countri…

>> "hence domestically popular tv shows like Big Bang Theory which have 0 audience in countries that value intellect"

> It's shown in 180 countries worldwide and very popular internationally (Including Russia):

You are confusing popularity with agreement with the anti-intellectual undertones.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#607

Post by agent008t »

zeku wrote: post #572
agent008t wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At Oxford, for instance, social life mostly happens at colleges. The way things are set up, you simply do not get to spend that much time with your course-mates - you do not interact with them during lectures, and then everyone goes back to their colleges. And social life in colleges is (sadly) dominated by drinking at the college bar, drinking in clubs, and dinners in the dining hall, where everyone seems to sit acc…

This is an American perspective but I think this could be an Anglo phenomenon so let me take a crack at it. When I was brought up, the image of what a successful student was, was a very well rounded one. The perfect student was a diligent worker in all courses and always an athlete. Athletics was very very tied to the image of being a proper student because basically athletics = team and team = learning to work with…

That is exactly it.

To me, that seems like an odd culture for universities to encourage/perpetuate, given that most top professors at top universities are unlikely to be particularly athletic, and the word "intellectual" is often used as almost an antonym of "athlete".

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#608

Post by Koshkin »

realbarack wrote: post #94
julianeon wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like it's worth pointing out here, for Americans who don't know better (no blame implied), that the French have one of the best mathematical pipelines in the world. They have almost as many Nobels (13 vs. 11) despite having 1/5 the population. Guardian article about them here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/31/europa-french-... So please don't think France is a backwater that just doesn't know how…

A paraphrased anecdote I heard about French math education: "In America, they start by teaching you how to add two numbers, then once you've mastered that you learn to subtract, then once you've got that down you learn to multiply and divide and so forth. In France they tell you: this is an arithmetic object. The operations on it are add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It's simple! It's a good way of cranking out a…

To the question "what is 2 + 3" a French primary school pupil replied: "3 + 2, since addition is commutative". He did not know what the sum was equal to and could not even understand what he was asked about!

https://www.uni-muenster.de/Physik.TP/~munsteg/arnold.html

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#609

Post by bumblebritches5 »

missosoup wrote: post #268
lsh123 wrote: post #80

Disclaimer: I graduated from one of the top math high schools in Moscow in early 90s, I have MS in Math from Moscow State University, and a half finished PhD from the same place. I think on average the difference between a high school student from Russia and US is negligible. Either country doesn’t really require much to finish school and many kids just do the tests without understanding what is going on. What separa…

> I think on average the difference between a high school student from Russia and US is negligible I went to high school in Russia and then moved to Australia. The difference was immense. It felt like i just dropped 2 year levels. Even the accelerated programs were hopelessly behind the regular curriculum for my age group in Russia. AU/US high school students can't possibly compete against RU or CN high school studen…

Australia is notorious for being not very smart, don't lump in America with australia.

Re: Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)

#610

Post by mesaframe »

jojobas wrote: post #503
playing_colours wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please share some books you enjoyed?

What subjects are you after? Also, the enjoyment was not supposed to be from reading the book, it was from passing the exam.

Not OP, if you know any great English translated Linear Algebra title or statistics.
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