> School education is not a good predictor of future performance. I would venture to say that above some (fairly modest) threshold of quality, the difference in schooling is irrelevant.
I beg to differ. School performance in mathematics and science directly impacts on the careers of people. A good example is engineering – it is pretty difficult for someone to study engineering without a good and solid mathematical foundation.
> Of course it doesn't. Even the UK is way ahead of USSR on that metric.
The UK and the USA is per capita twice to three times as rich as Russia/USSR. Britain also has the advantage of drawing out all of the brains out of the Commonwealth. A large percentage of American PhDs came from Europe (either Jews who fled or Germans who came afterwards). A lot of them were not educated in the USA.
I would venture that the Soviet Union/Russia’s scientific accomplishments is pretty spectacular for when all is taken into account.
I beg to differ. School performance in mathematics and science directly impacts on the careers of people. A good example is engineering – it is pretty difficult for someone to study engineering without a good and solid mathematical foundation.
> Of course it doesn't. Even the UK is way ahead of USSR on that metric.
The UK and the USA is per capita twice to three times as rich as Russia/USSR. Britain also has the advantage of drawing out all of the brains out of the Commonwealth. A large percentage of American PhDs came from Europe (either Jews who fled or Germans who came afterwards). A lot of them were not educated in the USA.
I would venture that the Soviet Union/Russia’s scientific accomplishments is pretty spectacular for when all is taken into account.