Oomis, my husband is often impressed with my analytical abilities, especially in discussing parsha or other Shabbos table discussions. I may well have the brains to learn, but I have no desire to. Despite the trend of the education Bais Yaakov provides, most girls are seriously machshiv Torah but don’t have the inclination to learn gemara. We’re just not wired that way. And there’s still so much to learn for those who want to – Tanach with meforshim, sifrei machshava, mastering halacha l’maaseh, etc.
Interesting about boys needing money to learn. Back in the old days, those who became gedolim got shtellers, or went to the sticks pretty quickly. No minimum 5 -7 years for them. And they still lived in poverty.
And BTW, there’s a lot more to it than that the kids need to learn how to live modestly and be resourceful, which might cut the parental support payments somewhat. The l’maaseh is that parents can’t afford ANY of it these days. If they’re not paying full tuition for their younger kids, or close to it, how are they siphoning off significant chunks on a regular basis (we’re not talking about pitching in for a bris, etc., or giving their kids occasional gifts, etc.) to the married kids? System’s broke, seems to me.