Average town (0.5M), average family (engineers), average school (not the best, not the worst), though the high school I attended had math specialization, so by the end of it I knew more math than an average Russian (or an average American).
it seems like Russia as a whole has very quickly lost the few positives the Soviet Union brought
Now imagine North Korea collapses, becomes like South Korea 30 years later, and someone makes a statement like that about it. Puts it in a different light, doesn't it?
Also, going back to the parent's post: "it seems like Russia as a whole has very quickly lost the few positives the Soviet Union brought"
Right, kind of tragic.