Previous school,highschool,college years before 1989

I mean the years before Nicolae Ceausescu.How was schooling back then?Was it more different than nowadays?When you were entering a highschool or college you were getting out with something usefull and applicable?How many study hours were there in that time?Were there manuals,exercises books,notebooks for all scholars?How severe were the teachers?Was there correctness in that time?I mean when you shared something to someone everything was equal to superiors and inferiors.
We could put in our disscusion world war 2.
I had an uncle in my country and he had 2 jobs electrician and accountant.He fought in the first and the second war.By 1945 he abandoned his first lieutenant function in the army and he choosed these 2 jobs.I dont know how he got promoted from the rank soldier to first lieutenant.Maybe he was a cultivated man(he had an entire library at his service so i guess he was a geek).
Why can't we learn nowadays lots of information like back then?