there's high density of post-Soviet block people in TopCoder ranking - out of TOP10 7 are from Russia, Belarus and Poland.
Primary and secondary mathematics education has been strong in Russia before, during, and after the Soviet period. Some of the neighboring countries that were part of either the Russian empire or the Soviet Union (also China since the P.R.C. regime began) share some of the same cultural influences on educational practice.
Another Hacker News participant told us all about a very interesting discussion of mathematics education in Russia
Primary and secondary mathematics education has been strong in Russia before, during, and after the Soviet period. Some of the neighboring countries that were part of either the Russian empire or the Soviet Union (also China since the P.R.C. regime began) share some of the same cultural influences on educational practice.
Another Hacker News participant told us all about a very interesting discussion of mathematics education in Russia
http://www.de.ufpe.br/~toom/travel/sweden05/WP-SWEDEN-NEW.pd...
by a Russian mathematician who has since taught in the United States and in Brazil.