[smadge]

Can you share more about education in the USSR? My impression is that for all its faults, education is one area where the USSR excelled, with very high standards and outcomes.

[dilyevsky]

TP is largely correct - there was no “advanced track” or any kind of differentiation at a normal school systemically. There were “gymnasiums” - a kind of specialized schools starting grade 8 or 9 and only in big cities and you could apply if you test well and/or your parents knew somebody who knew somebody

[ahazred8ta]

Aside from the fact that about 5% of soviet students went to separate remedial schools, because of disability or behavior.

[triceratops]

Your impression is correct. OP's fallen into the classic trap of equating the American "left" (which isn't left at all) with socialism, and that with the USSR. It's all nonsense free association of "things conservatives dislike", from the same mine that yielded gems like "cultural Marxism" (another nonsense).