What MikkoAkure said is most hammer on the nail I think.

Most of the societies in Eorzea are geared towards sheer survival, rather than towards enlightenment.

You have to wonder a bit about how much book learning really could afford to your average person in this setting, too. Wouldn't it be more prudent to learn a trade or how to fight in a world full of monsters and magic? I mean, even the intellectual institutes that we know about seem to have practical applications in mind.

It's probably something along the lines of figuring out a child's strengths, and then giving them over to the most applicable guild. Like that girl in the Conjurer quests.

This question calls to mind just how big of a deal it was when Sharlayan made the Hinterlands colony. Wasn't it always a big point that many intellectuals or lovers of knowledge(education) tried to go there?