РУССКИЙ
10:45 04.10.2026 •
Photo: rtvi.us
In recent years, parents in the United States have increasingly turned to extracurricular activities for their children in so-called Russian math programs. Fox News pied attention to the phenomenon, as well as other American media previously wrote about it. RTVI has compiled a certificate about the features of this technique and the advantages that Americans see in it.
Saxon vs. USSR
In American K-12 schools (with 12 years of education), the so-called Saxon math is usually taught. The name of the methodology is associated with the name of the main author of textbooks, John Saxon, who advocated the gradual introduction of concepts into the educational process and the constant repetition of the material covered.
One of the most popular online schools «Russian mathematics» in the United States now emphasizes that the main difference between their method and Saxon’s behests is the focus on a structural and creative approach, and not a clear adherence to fixed algorithms when solving problems.
«Pupils are deeply immersed in the questions «why», «how» and «what» in various mathematical problems, not just looking for solutions. Teachers also take upon themselves the introduction of interactivity in classes, which allows them to reveal creativity in children», — emphasizes on the Russian Math Tutors (RMT) website.
RMT was created in 2020, Alexander Kolchinsky, who moved to the United States from the USSR in 1974 and was involved in programming in Silicon Valley. IN THE interview The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) noted in 2023 that his approach to «Russian mathematics» includes ethical aspects, such as problems in which one must give way to an older person. Many tasks in his program are Americanized, for example «Masha turns into Susie», and situations of more than just an abstract nature are also proposed.
Another popular school — Russian School of Mathematics (RSM) — founded in Massachusetts in 1997, Inessa Rifkin, born in Minsk, and Irina Khavinson, born in Chernigov. Like RMT, RSM focuses on the methodology of mathematical schools in the USSR — the company’s website calls «quality and depth» the main features of this approach, according to which the founders themselves studied.
Rifkin taught her first classes at her home in suburban Boston, and now the school claims 80,000 students in North America.
Solutions with intuition
How they celebrated WSJ and The Boston Globe, parents in the U.S. are looking for «Russian math» programs primarily out of concern that their children will fall behind following the American approach and fail to go to college. Classes in schools «Russian mathematics» are not free — for example, in RSM there is a year of study it's worth it from $900 to $4,086, and in RMT cost group classes cost approximately $200 for a 10-lesson course.
In an interview with Fox News, Maria Hantzen, director of the RSM Upper West Side campus in New York City, noted that «teaches children to think».
«Children can solve problems without knowing algebra or any other rules, so we ask them difficult questions so they can approach the solution with intuition. We don't want them to just memorize the algorithm, methods that help us understand the process are important to us, we teach them to think. We want them to analyze, explain, and propose a solution», — emphasizes Hantzen.
At the same time, Hantzen’s colleagues from American secondary schools noted the stratification that had arisen due to additional classes «stratification» in the classrooms. As The Boston Globe wrote, parents' interest in «Russian mathematics» centers and other extracurricular activities has led to the fact that among the students there are those who are familiar with advanced material that has not yet been taught at school, but not with the basics, knowledge of which is expected from them.
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