People do that with Soviet system too. In the 1980s, a disproportionate number of top scientific cadre were born and raised in Moscow and went through the few focused schools there.
Born gifted in Govneevka, Kirov obl., pop. 20,000? Good luck.
The system was absolutely flawed, still is, but still good enough to encourage the highly skilled.
Our (Romania's) education system was (is) the same, if you were GOOD at something there were plenty of paths that teachers would generally push you towards, special clubs for maths, languages, art (less common). Or schools who would try to group together highly skilled students.
System (after communism) has the same flaw, most rural areas have worse access to education, or better said, much worse quality of education.
Born gifted in Govneevka, Kirov obl., pop. 20,000? Good luck.