Lol in what world was the US education system the envy of the world? We’ve been routinely clowned for overspending, poor outcomes, university tuition bloat, and everything else under the sun.
For example, in the Shanghai ranking, 16 of the top 20 universities are in the USA. https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024
In US News and World reports of top universities, 14 of the top 20 universities in the world are in the USA. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/ra...
In The Times Higher Education ranking, 13 of the top 20 universities in the world are in the USA. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin...
To be blunt, your assertion has extremely weak evidence. I urge you to look at facts and evidence and not your feels.
This one.
In most rankings of work universities US schools dominate the top of the list. Same when it comes to winning Nobel prizes--8 of the top 10 are in the US (the other 2 are Oxford and Cambridge).
It was a golden age of knowledge that is being crushed by MAGA.
Usually "the best in the world" is not going to be accessible to average people. Top schools in the USA are open to the best and brightest people from around the world, average people can't compete with that.