But even here, there have always been separate educational tracks for the rich and for everyone else. The rich had tutors, prep schools and college. Their sense of self-esteem and social standing was carefully nurtured. They received liberal arts educations to broaden understanding and sharpen thinking. The economy, and society in general, needed relatively few people to fill top roles, and these children were prepared to fill their mostly inherited places.
Elite education is extremely expensive.
The rich could afford it. Even if the voting public had wanted the same kind of schooling for everyone, they simply didn't have funds to provide such education on a large scale. Ultimately, this dual-track system is about power and control. Underlying many peoples' enthusiasm for education technology is their belief that we can achieve both. So far, while technology-rich learning environments can do this in a classroom here and a school there, the current state of the art does not provide definitive evidence that this can actually be done massively across all demographic groups, even if the political will and resources were available.