[tracker1]

"Traditional Public Schools" aren't really that old... the schools resembling what we have today as K-12 in the US is only about a century old, and then in Urban areas mostly. Parents that could, would teach their kids, and those that could afford it, there were private tutors and schools.

Our K-12 system is relatively new, and even then has changed a lot since even when I was a kid, let alone what my parents and grandparents had. My great grandmother was a school teacher, and the English textbook that 5th graders were taught in the 50's was harder than anything I had through graduating 22 years ago.

We're spending far more time on "computer skills" and "soft skills" and "self esteem" and less on core english, math and communications skills... those skills with which you can learn anything else.