It's a question about what you want to optimize for. I believe that societies need elites for progress. People who can really push things forward tend to be those with the highest innate ability who happen to have an education that pushes them to the limits of their ability. Optimizing schools to raise the minimum or the average education level seems to have the effect that the maximum suffers.

There are great arguments why you'd want to raise the average education level, but I think sacrificing the best minds to this cause is short-sighted.

But elite education is not attainable for all pocket sizes.