erich - I was just giving an example. Math and science was the first thing that came to my mind because that's the gifted school I went to. Nothing else behind it. You're reading too much in what I wrote and I only mentioned all of it in respect to the comment about Finland. Nothing more, nothing less. Not all gifted people need or want to win a medal.
But back to the topic of early academic education ... forget Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic ... Bulgaria's compulsory education starts at 7 years old, Romania's "School Preparation Class" is for 6-7 year olds, Hungary's primary education starts after they turn 6 or when they turn 7 if their birthday is after May 31st (though their last year of preschool is mandatory)... so the medal count you posted still supports my point of early academics not being that necessary. The preschool / Kindergarten age kids focus on learning social skills but academics don't usually start until they enter elementary school.
Russian and Chinese primary education start at age 7-8. But traditional home schoolings start as early as 2-3 years old. So when they show up for grade 1, most kids already mastered arithmatic (equals to grade3-4 level in US).
Both countries have tradition of identifying and honoring gifted kids in school. Their governments allocate more resources for those kids. Both have easily accessible local public schools specialized in gifted education, some with a shortened primary+secondary schooling (typically 12 years reduced to 8 years).
I wish that US have a supporting system for gifted kids as good as Russian and Chinese, so we parents can sit back and relax.
