A lot of people that were kids in 1912 went on to develop technology and weapons used in WWII.
Your use of the term "a lot of people" is incorrect.
The creators of the 1918-1964 technology explosion were a tiny, tiny fraction of the population.
The schools of 1912-1954 were designed, and optimized, to find them and to educate them.
That is no longer the purpose of public schools, which have been redesigned for their new purposes.
Hate the game, not the player.