To this day I am still impressed at the quality and high level of education received in public high school by those I knew who graduated in the 1920's to 1940's - maybe even into the 1950's for some.
They graduated with a well rounded education and were much more prepared to enter life as adults than what I see as the accepted norm today.
There is a test floating around the net that is supposedly an 8th grade test from the 1800's. From my personal acquaintance with many who graduated in the first half of the 1900's I would say that test is probably reflective of the high level of their education.
Many I knew who are now either deceased or senior citizens could run circles around many young college grads of today in any serious academic subject. Compared to their present day counterparts, they had high level math, language and science skills, were well versed in history, government, the classics, etc.
But they were very weak on gender studies and the history of Islam and homosexualism.
Many males finished their education at the 8th grade back in the early 20th century. They were needed to help provide income to the family. My dad completed the 8th grade in the early 30's and I would stack his knowledge up against most high school graduates today. Plus he had a ton of common sense which is sorely lacking in a lot of college grads.
I went to a public high school in the early 1950’s and then on to U.C.L.A.-a good university then. At U.C.L.A. we competed with kids that attended Groton and we did just as well. However, I went to what was then an above average school district.
To say nothing of the existential threat posed by Anthropogenic Global Warming!
“To this day I am still impressed at the quality and high level of education received in public high school by those I knew who graduated in the 1920’s to 1940’s “
Of course you are. In 1941 the white HS graduation rate was 25%. If 75% of whites left school after 8th grade, you would STILL be impressed with the product of high schools today.