/1. Who are you, and what do you have to teach me? I ask my teacher. Who he is does not really matter, he says. He is just a teacher, trained to teach the curriculum. Who designed the curriculum, and what do they have to teach me then, I ask. Some organization far far away, he explains. *** /2. But why can they decide what I learn? I ask. There are so many wonderful things in the world -- Animals, plants, mountains, insects, Poems, churches, planes, internet, AI, ... How is it possible for them to put everything into categories, and together into something called a curriculm? They can't, teacher laughs. They have to pick. But what about those that are left out? I ask. Well I'm afraid that's out of my control. I am trained to teach you algebra. *** /3. Designers of the curriculum think they are discovering the truth of the world by hand-picking the finest fruits of the human civilization. In fact, they are just creating order of what's important and what should be remembered, and what's not important and what can be forgotten. *** > “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” > ― Robert A. Heinlein