I moved to Romania three years ago, and was surprised to find the same kind of specialist/vocational high school paths have been in use a long time in this country. Once you hit teen years you might find yourself, if you worked hard enough, in one of the more prestigious specialized high school institutions for one of many subjects, such as architecture, medicine, physics or the arts.

It seemed to me a huge pressure to put on such young shoulders, to commit to a career path so early, but that's the aptitude-based system that dominated under communism. Since the schools are so prestigious, much of that system still remains.