Up until the industrial revolution most children were 'taught' the ropes of life by their parents and extended family. Children had a better opportunity to pickup on essential life knowledge, as opposed to academic knowledge. i.e., a happy and content life does not come from academic knowledge, but rather from life knowledge. Sure, ignorance in this area has always been with us. Nevertheless, the intimacy of ancestral conditions allowed family elders to engage each child's nature and needs and guide them accordingly. Of course, there would have been many unhappy exceptions to this ideal. However, going back to hunter-gatherer circumstances the positives would far outweigh the negatives.

The major dysfunction of institutional education in the modern world is the near complete absence of this ancestral process. Education now is geared toward a 'few sizes fit everyone' efficiency. This problem has become even worse with the common practice of both parents either working... or divorced. Significant parental guidance is nearly extinct in the ancestral sense, with the educational system expected to fill the gap. It can't, no matter how much we expect it to. Like Cinderella's sisters; we are struggling to make a small shoe (our industrial civilization) accommodate a big foot (human nature). And, I?m not even going to get into the ?educational? effects on youth of the constant restless and wilful innovation that society embodies today. Nor will I bemoan the ignorance of ?educational experts? - those puppets of 19th and 20th century industrial necessity.

Geez, I?m sticking it to ?em! It feels good, but it isn?t personal. It isn?t ?them?, it is ?us?. After all, no one is in charge. We don?t know what we are doing... but, we think we do. Opps... ops: