I have to disagree with the part where you say "never". The US was actually way ahead of the rest of the world in terms of education, first in terms of universal K-12 , and then with secondary. Our education system was the envy of the world for most of the 20th century, and emulated everywhere, and we outranked most of the world in educational achievement.

Then came 1980 and the election of Ronnie Raygun, and our educational system began to die a slow and miserable death.