competition model only works in urban environments
I live in a rural area, my kids went to Montessori. 30 mins drive each way for me.
And of course there is the Internet now. It is not a drop-in replacement, but for some kids and some subjects it works very well.
We can have regulation, education requirements, and standards while still encouraging healthy competition.
Look at CFS SPARC, not ITER
They will have an actual functioning fusion machine with Q>10 by end of this year thanks to high temperature superconductors that were not available when ITER started
https://cfs.energy/