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I think Keith's inquiry is incredibly salient in everyday life.  What is the goal of education?  I've been fed many answers to this through middle-school, high school and college.  Some answers revolved around "bench marks" set by administration, some around "learning all you can know" and some around "exploring possibilities."  My favorite, of course, is exploring possibilities.  I always felt that learning all you can know" and the concept of teaching to a test put inhibitions on me.  I felt as if I was meant to 'only' learn certain things, as if there was a concrete barrier that I must eventually stop at once I approach it.  "Exploring possibilities," while vague, is the concept that sends me striving for greater aspirations, pushing myself and those around me.  While it is vague (and can be difficult to accept, given the fact that most institutions give a firm goal and 'brick wall'), it is worth really driving that message home to students at a younger age.  I think this was something that my parents always did, and it really helped me to explore outside of my boundaries throughout my education.  I was always given an option of doing something more than what I was asked and never penalized for this, which really helped my personality grow into an exploratory one.  I think this "exploration" is overlooked in most educational settings, and I think that this is a sore disappointment for the population who deserves to have nothing except vast space to explore.  No more brick walls.