The educational system of communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s is not coming back, so there is little point in debating whether its return would be desirable. No one steps into the same river twice, and no one can step back into the society of 1982. There is, however, one lesson worth drawing from it.
If a government considers something a priority, and if it has sufficient power, it can ensure that a large share of the population acquires a command of mathematics and the natural sciences that today we expect only from university students in technical and scientific fields. It can produce a society in which most people have vocabularies a third larger than ours today. In which they remember more historical dates than many contemporary history students. In which most people are capable of listening to opera and distinguishing Romantic paintings from Impressionist ones.
But achieving this requires an enormous investment of effort. The government must regard it as part of its mission and believe that it matters to the success of the country. It means demanding schools that stand behind teachers even against parents. It means organized company trips to cultural events. It means Sunday poetry programs. It means putting pressure on children to work hard even when doing so is uncomfortable.
It also means an end to excuses that the population is not talented enough, that average IQ is not high enough, or that children did not receive a sufficiently good foundation at home. Either having educated and capable people is a priority, or it is not. Yes, it really is that simple.
People born around 1960 did not have higher IQs than young people today. Or only marginally higher ones. Nor is there much reason to suppose that they received more intellectually stimulating guidance at home. The difference lies in the intentions of those who hold political power.