Nassim Taleb has a theory that the primary purpose of school is not to educate children, but to keep them from roaming the streets and causing mayhem. Learning is a side-effect.

Also, to acclimatize them to the structure of working where we spend massive amounts of our time carrying out arbitrary tasks with arbitrary deadlines. The core work skill for many jobs is our ability to both believe and co-create the shared fiction that they are important enough to even spend time on in the first place.

I did not know that. But I was told primary school is not only to teach the basics, but also (and even more important) to start forming social individuals to form a society. That is one of the reasons primary school is (typically) compulsory, presencial, and the based in groups that grow together for some years. Also is part of the primary school teaching respect for the Flag, the history and heros, anthem, etc. also patriotic holidays, like independence day, imply special works for the kids, actuation and what not. They have to learn to live their country.

That's all true, but let's not forget the actual reason for children starting school very early in the morning is basically so that their parents can drop them at school and go to work.

> to start forming social individuals to form a society.

That's the explicit purpose of barnehage (from one to five years old) in Scandinavia, specifically Norway. That's preschool or kindergarten in other countries but without any academic instruction at all. Every child is guaranteed a place and the cost is strictly limited.

> Also is part of the primary school teaching respect for the Flag, the history and heros, anthem, etc. also patriotic holidays, like independence day,

We don't have that. I suppose that Constitution Day (17th May) has some slight similarity with American Independence Day. The barnehage children will walk in the procession waving flags but it's not really the same.

Of course part of the reason that hero worship isn't inculcated in barnehage in Norway is probably because every Norwegian has an unshakeable belief in the greatness of Norwegians (especially in regard to skiing championships against the Swedes) so it is unnecessary.

I exaggerate of course, but slightly. :-)

In my experience the Scandinavian countries fly flags for any reason or no reason at all. Birthday? Flags. Christmas? Flags. Wedding? Anniversary? Flags. Friend visiting from out of town? Flags. They are use for any celebration.

Has anyone discovered the primary purpose of Nassim Taleb though?

Max deadlift.

I don't think 6-8-year-olds would cause a lot of mayhem. But parents need to go to work and kids aren't trusted to supervise themselves at that age (analogous to kindergarten before it). For teenagers the mayhem thing is also doubtful because school usually ends around 1-2 pm, while parents only finish working around 5 pm, so there's plenty of time to roam in the afternoon (at least outside present day America where parents drive kids around until late teenage years - which really is rather the exception in the broader context of school tradition).