It never in the past cost quite so much to train up our great inventors, explorers, scientists, artists, musicians, etc.
rabbitstew - it was easier in the past. Not saying it was easier living in the past, but easier to invent something new, to explore new territories, to "find" something new in science, etc. These days, a lot is impossible without really superb and targeted eduction - in part because of all the discoveries that have been made in the past.
I've talked about this forever with DH (who happens to be a scientist), but the easiest way to explain this is by using HISTORY - the subject - as an example. With each year that passes by, you are creating history. Someone born in 1930 never had to learn about WW2, for example. Same thing with science. There is just soooooo much more to learn, and yet, school hours, etc. do not reflect that. Classes have become larger instead.
These days, even my DH admits that a large part of very employable/good scientists were educated in the private sector because they had the training required before they even got to uni. Even in music - Coldplay, Radiohead... private schools galore. Private schools can provide all-round education that is almost necessary in today's world (not so much in the past), but it takes money which buys time - things that are not infinitely available, but may be available for happygardening and her DS.
It makes no sense just educating all people to a satisfactory / good level but have no excellence because everyone should be educated in the same way. Even in the heydays of communism, this was a well-known fact. In our current competitive world, it's excellence that matters even if this may come at the cost of the wider population.
This was written in a rush - but can elaborate more later if needed.