At same there are many differences, there also many similarities. Since you talked about food and school access, let's draw some differences between these aspects in the past and now. In the past, access was more restricted, but on the other hand, the quality of the education and food were superior. Before food really tasted well, while now, cheap food (which everyone can have access) taste like nothing... If you don't have money nowadays, you won't have access to flavored and tasteful food anyway, because these are pretty expensive.

Education is the same, as nowadays everyone can go to school and get a degree, but it doesn't mean anything at all anymore, as there are many people with degrees who can't find a job or display professional skills which theoretically should have been learned and acquired during the college.

So, we live an illusion in the present moment, where you are just deluded to believe things are improving and you are having life quality, while in fact it's just that life quality decreased in some aspects, and that is the reason why it has become accessible to the masses.