The average person has the science literacy at or below a fifth grader, and places academic study precedence below that of a story about a wish granting sky fairy who made earth in his basement as a hobby with zero lighting (obviously, as light hadn't been invented at that point).
Quite the contrary! The idea is that today's curricula and methods of instruction have changed a lot over two centuries. Here in the US, it is not uncommon for secondary arts teachers and programs to be dropped whenever schools are feeling a budget crunch. Now we see similar things going on in major universities. Often ones with more administrators than professors.
In the high school I attended, and later in one that I taught in, the separate building for the sports program was as large as the rest of the school. I thought those were fairly clear statements of what the district's priorities were. 'Education' is a very broad word that can mean many things in many places.
Ah yeah, fuck administration sometimes. Bunch of corporate shills operating the Universities these days, really makes me wonder if we'll have a more open access method to accredited education very soon, if only because of the enshitification of top schools.