No, I say emphatically, having been answering this questions ever since I was sent to Sweden on an exchange programme during the years of my academic slippery slope of achievement.
I look at my brother's children and their little libraries. The 9 year old has enviable collection of books, a series in her language about notable women, including Harriet Tubman. Her mother, with a PhD in Molecular Biology and an MBA is constantly questioned about: Explain this to me ? Why this is so ?
It is curiosity that distinguishes and directed well by the parents. American children that I know in Miami are equally curious but the parents are equipped to tell them the shoe sizes of celebrities or gossip as knowledge.
I am sure it was one of our sages who said: For Knowledge to be Knowledge, it has to be transferrable. If you look up the meaning of Knowledge Transfer, you would see an almost industrial strength of accumulations of ways of transferring knowledge, tacit knowledge, business transfer etc.
Another young member of the family at dinner asked me : Explain to me what they mean by Meaning of Life ? And seven year old asking me, how many types of Lemurs are there ? and native to which country?
Sequestration of knowledge or the feeling that you need only to know things that can be converted into work and pay, narrows the world view of the students at high school age.
So, i felt a warmth in my heart about this printed newspaper from a Northern country. I wont tell you in which language it is printed nor the town and country of its origin.
Be curious and find out ..
and dont forget to give that information to your children ..
