>Well I spoke with her at lunch today and she agrees that education is much better in Bulgaria than in the U.S. on a whole. She told me that parents choose their children's academic future in the 7th grade based on tests and capabilities and the student is enrolled into specialized schooling (math/science, languages, etc) after that point. According to her, students not academically gifted or prepared for college are actually 'filtered out' before they reach college age.

I don't know about anyone else, but that sounds horrible...