Not having a free market (because of gender inequality) was actually very beneficial for education. Until the mid 20th century, one of the only available professions to half of world's brilliant minds was teaching.
Privileged kids often had live-in tutors, called governesses. Governesses would teach children foreign languages, musical instruments, and poetry, and other subjects. For a time, being a governess was one of the only ways a middle class single woman could support herself, no matter how brilliant she was. One such governess was named Marie Curie.
In the U.S there was a "brain drain" to other professions. The U.S does not recruit top students to become teachers in the same way that other European countries do, nor does it pay them as well or provide as many benefits. This is one of the reasons that the U.S has fallen in the international rankings.
Privileged kids often had live-in tutors, called governesses. Governesses would teach children foreign languages, musical instruments, and poetry, and other subjects. For a time, being a governess was one of the only ways a middle class single woman could support herself, no matter how brilliant she was. One such governess was named Marie Curie.
In the U.S there was a "brain drain" to other professions. The U.S does not recruit top students to become teachers in the same way that other European countries do, nor does it pay them as well or provide as many benefits. This is one of the reasons that the U.S has fallen in the international rankings.