Primary and secondary school will impart to you only some rudiments of knowledge. Even what you learn during the four years of university will be something quite superficial too. A university has often been misleadingly referred to as “the highest seat of learning”, which sounds as if there were no more learning to speak of beyond it. The research institute of a university, however, is the place for preliminary scholarship. But even there you get only the first taste of learning and the emphasis is on research methodology and practice. Art is long, life is short. That is why some of our ancients continued to study even when they were hoary-headed. They were, of course, motivated by an enormous interest in their studies.
During the preliminary stage of learning, from primary school to college, it is better to advocate discipline than interest. A properly arranged school curriculum, like a cookbook on nutritionally well-balanced food, must include all the useful and indispensable courses—courses which are equally important and obligatory. The so-called electives mean only some little option within the scope of a certain item.