Titans of Chaos

"It was only after Chaos agreed to turn over the hostages that they discovered their, what youmight call, their oversight, but by then their rage was held in check by the fear that some woefuldeed would befall you four. By that time, we had forced you to use your metamorphic powers tochange shape into small children, and I am sure the thought of you so small and frail weighed onthe councils of the monsters that gave birth to you. Yes. Indeed. I would mock them for their folly,had I not made the same mistake myself.

"You were quite delightful as a child, I assure you, albeit trying at times: but, on the whole, I daresay, you were easier to raise than many mortals find their young to be. Oh, how men must envythe gods, since we can keep loud children stunned with drugs and spells, and, if all else fails, withlessons."

I said, "Why did you do it? The lessons. You taught us exactly what we needed to know to use ourpowers. I thought we were these wolf cubs, growing up into giants that would eat the sun andmoon-why teach the cubs how to hunt?"

"Poetically asked, Miss Windrose. I admire your turn of phrase."

"Thank you. Now answer the question."

He looked away from me and out the window. Maybe he watched the lights of distant vessels onthe sea. Maybe he looked at the stars. "I was an educator before I was a soldier, miss. I taughtmankind how to break and ride horses, for example. Educators know there are only two types ofschooling: indoctrination and education.

"Indoctrination teaches a student how to cleave to a party line, and to recite the slogans andbromides of the accepted conformity. He is taught only how to swallow lies, and there is noassurance he will not swallow the propaganda of foes as easily as that of friends. Such folk arehopelessly provincial to their time and place. Unable to distinguish truth from fable, they swallowboth or spit both out, and become zealots, or, worse yet, cynics. The zealot holds that truth can bewon with no effort; the cynic, that no effort will suffice.

"Education teaches the art of skeptical inquiry. The student learns the thoughts of all the greatminds of the past, so that the implications and mistakes of philosophy of various schools are notunknown to him. And he learns, first, current scientific theories and, second, how frail andtemporary such theories can be. He learns to be undeceived by those who claim to know a lastand final truth.