In his new book, The children's machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer (1993, Basic Books), Seymour Papert describes an interesting and provocative metaphor for much of the emphasis school's place on the K-12 curriculum. He likens the curriculum to the building of a gothic cathedral out of 40,000 blocks of stone: "Clearly, strict organization is needed to perform such a task. One cannot have individual workers deciding that they want to put a block here or there just because they are inspired to do so. Educating a child is a similar process. Everyone has to follow the plan" (p. 62).
Papert contends that "knowledge" to many educators is based on the "cathedral" model where everyday the placement of 20 stones must be carefully planned and arranged. Moving 20 stones a day for 180 days a year for 12 years will result in the desired outcome: a finished cathedral--complete knowledge. Papert admits that this is a caricature of the hierarchical theory of knowledge espoused by many educators, yet it seems to capture the "myth" (as Ken Tobin uses the word) of knowledge pervading the schools today.