Watching from the Shadows

In Atlantis, more and more people are complaining about shadow education. They claim the system is screwed up, or that the curriculum is. Most of these complainants know nothing about systems, nor about curricula.

Indeed, almost all of them know nothing about the rest of the world, and how the inequities and abuses are even worse elsewhere. Hint: it is not Atlantis which has the highest per capita use of shadow education.

The answer to how it all got this way is obvious. Given the suspicion that a game is being played for high stakes and that not playing gives a negative reward, all potential players are likely to go for it if they can.

That's what's happening in Atlantis. Everyone thinks the game is rigged, or that only the rich can play and win. But despite this, they play anyway, causing hyperinflation and expansion of the shadow market, the grey area, the twilight zone. Once they push the remuneration for shadow operators higher than that for teachers, teachers will defect to the shadows.

And here we are now.