Even back then we had the technology and opportunity to do this. The gist: get the best (most captivating) teachers (perhaps coached by the best researchers) and record them / broadcast them to students.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Education-Automation-Freeing-scholar-...
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We had the technology even in the 1950s to do mass education that would arguably be better than status quo in many subjects.
https://www.amazon.com/Education-Automation-Freeing-scholar-...