petr, thanks for your post on the Russian System.
Regarding the schools, our school system is a good one with much to offer but it lacks one essential ingredient.
No, not money.
It lacks students who are motivated to take advantage of what it has to offer, and parents who want to be involved with their childrens education.
The children in the US have always had it good -relative to the rest of the world- and have never been made to realize that it's up to THEM if the good times are to continue. Their parents are too busy " just doing my own thing and being me" to be involved and this is what is needed more than any amount of government funding.
In Russia, the kids and their parents know that education is the only way out of the grinding life in the factory or the farm.