ABSTRACT
Education has only a little to do with the transfer of objective information. It substitutes for instinct the inculcation of fixed habits of thought and action. It is the end product of the trend in mammalian evolution toward a greater use of learning and a longer learning period. Society became more complex: knowledge was accumulated, and social control began to involve processes more subtle than gestures of threat and appeasement. Criticism of formal educational systems is commonplace, and there is no need to add to the catalog of complaints. Primates want to live as much as humans do, and living involves them in many of the complications it presents to us. For the growing primate, learning is inseparable not only from playing but also from living, from what he himself can see as relevant to what he does. Playfulness is the basis of successful learning.
