In math, a good teacher goes further than in any other subject. For example, in Eastern Europe, the teaching facilities has been very poor in the past century, but it is ridiculous how many influential 20th century mathematicians were Hungarian. I couldn't understand this phenomenon for a long time until I realized that it nearly entirely has to do with the fact that most of those mathematicians studied under eminent Austro-Hungarian mathematicians who studied under eminent German mathematicians who studied under eminent French or Italian mathematicians all the way back to the Renaissance. Look up Paul Erdos (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=19470) for example, and keep clicking on "advisor" until you reach 15th century Italy.

This is why I love online learning and have good hopes for the Khan academy. Projects like that can set us/our children free from the plague of bad teaching.