We have lots of Soviet teachers in Israel, they always said "it's better to solve something in 15 ways than solve 15 things the same way" and that resonated.
To be fair though, that approach is omnipresent in the math faculty in the Hebrew University - so it was not unique to the Soviet paradigm but it was interesting to see it in High School.
There is also a genuine sense of "let's try to do this!" that's very common in computer science but is more common in "soviet" math than "regular Israeli" math.
The most important distinction IMO was that these teachers were not _afraid_ of Math and could discuss higher level non-high-school concepts typically. Having a teacher that loves the subject is important.
To be fair though, that approach is omnipresent in the math faculty in the Hebrew University - so it was not unique to the Soviet paradigm but it was interesting to see it in High School.
There is also a genuine sense of "let's try to do this!" that's very common in computer science but is more common in "soviet" math than "regular Israeli" math.
The most important distinction IMO was that these teachers were not _afraid_ of Math and could discuss higher level non-high-school concepts typically. Having a teacher that loves the subject is important.