Pavel Durov

Petersburg State University and called Academic Gymnasium, was that unlike other classes which were specialized in some single subject like physics or math or history, this one tried to get the best from all of the specialized classes and bring it into one curriculum.

Since it was an experimental class, it wasn't possible to become a straight A student, to be excellent in all the subjects.

It was considered crazy to even try.

Yes.

It was an experiment.

And it was in the middle of the 90s.

Remember when Russia, particularly its educational system, wasn't regulated as much as it is today.

It was in the middle between the two stages of the Russian history, the Soviet history, and the modern Russian history of the 21st century.

In any case...

I learned a lot from that experience.

First of all, why I got into the school is because I kept being kicked out from other schools.

I was good at all subjects, but not behavior.

We had this behavior grade in the Soviet Union in the early 90s.

Perhaps they even have it today.

I'm not sure.

I was very bad at behavior, always challenging the teachers, always pointing out their mistakes.

I think I was very lucky to be able to do that and to be able to get away with it in the end.

Because normally if you keep challenging authorities,

you just get kicked out of all schools, and then you end up nowhere.

So I eventually got into a school where challenging teachers was not fully okay, but it was something that you could do, and then you would start a debate with the teacher, and normally they would allow you to express your point of view, and then some objective truth may come out of it as a result.