I think we had our first taste of Vegimite in the 80s. It was also our last :cheeky:
The American education system is widely regarded as the worst in the developed world, but I can believe it's not perfect elsewhere. Depending on how many disaffected old people with no stake in their community go to the polls on any given election, schools can suddenly receive less taxpayer funding (or maybe that's just here XP).
At my school, we had a class called Pre-Algebra in year 7, Algebra I in year 8, Geometry in year 9, and Algebra II in year 10 (and all these classes came in later years if you chose an easier math in year 7.) So, I suppose, we're just about on par in that we have to spread Algebra over many years and we're not done with it until year 10 either.
Well, as for Queensland, "smart" can be slang for "hurt", so you never know :p