Answer:
Most higher-paying jobs in the cities required a formal education ( because If you don't get an education, you can't be productive, so you can't have a job, and you wouldn't make any money. If no one did any jobs, then nothing would get done and the economy would be destroyed ) while most Rural americans were farmers and gained more from working on the farm or family business running rather than going to school.
Hence, the formal education was more important for urban americans than rural americans.