American school reading
(https://photos.app.goo.gl/CU3orsqEGp17aSnv8)
I imagined what the kids did in their free time. The USSR kids played less, and were less socialized. The American kids read imaginative material, even the theatricized geography lessons.
Then you look at the outcome. The US reading included the Victorian tales of conniving princesses, but that prepared children some basic skills ind dealing with social life. The USSR life and economy was based on the stories of the Russian suffering through the lesson of theoretical communism. The super smart USSR reading was powerless in the face of the American mindgame of nuclear strategy and star wars. The mindset cannot fathom the business savvy of the game and the culture of golf. Cannot educate itself out of the oil-gas revenue addiction and rescue the economy.
The Ivan reading book was written at the peak of the perceived fear of the USSR's missile and military, when the US really had the advantage and also in strategic bombers. B-52s still flying, Soviet bombers all broken up long time ago. etc etc
