This depends on the region and the people. In New England far more emphasis was placed education. They built schools and sent their children to go. New England had far less distance between the elites and the non elites. Naturally slaves, free blacks, and native americans were treated differently.

In the South, however, education was a bit different. Planters would often hire tutors for their children, sons primarily, while the lower class whites would have to make due with less formal methods. Free Blacks were discouraged from learning and quite often slaves would be restricted by custom, and by the 19th century after a number of slave revolts, by law.

To say "Better educated" is complicated. They were educated with the knowledge needed at the time. what would a farmer need with math more complex than basic accounting? A farmer needed to sell his crop and divide his field properly. Craftsmen learned their skills from trade masters. Many lawyers were apprenticed to a lawyer for years before taking the bar.

Our idea of modern education really is a development of the progressive era. The idea of professional teachers running classrooms with standardized a curriculum came about in the late 1800s.