Depends on your definition of "well educated." Most plantation owners sent their sons to college where they received classical educations, which focused on literature, language, and philosophy, etc. It must be said, however, that many sons (completely unlike now /s) did not pay a whole lot of attention and spent their time drinking and wenching as much as possible. This was even acceptable behavior for men at the time, especially if they were wealthy. Many plantation owners also became lawyers or doctors. Being a lawyer opened up opportunities into politics, with its many obvious benefits, while being a doctor kept their slaves' working at maximum efficiency. You might want to check out a book called Lanterns on the Levee. It takes place after the Civil War, but goes into the kind of education that wealthy southerners received in great detail.