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I'm not convinced about education being defined as the transfer of knowledge from one person to another. People can teach themselves, and learn from practice and experience. It's also possible for a group of people to learn collectively without a formal teacher. Some educational institutions have experimented with peer learning, using a (non-expert) facilitator. One might argue that people might learn better if they have to take responibility for their learning, rather than passively accepting the teacher's words.
The transfer model is hierarchical: one person (the teacher) is in charge because they are the expert.
And what's wrong with allowing learners to be in charge of the curriculum? In the anarchist Summerhill school, that is exactly what happened. Surely we all have memories of sitting through hours of calculus/geography/art history and forgetting it all? (Or never learning it in the first place.)
I know kids who could never get their heads round fractions or percentages whilst in school. But when they needed to calculate wage rates, or buy floor tiles then they taught themselves the maths, or asked their numerate friends for a crash course.
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