I am a snowflake distinct among snowflakes

What a beautiful line to start a song. Robin Pecknold’s lyrics (Fleet Foxes) from Helplessness Blues have been ringing in my ears during most of my recent car journeys. When I wrote about the purpose of education, the ongoing discussion made me recall them once again.

The opening two verses/stanzas seem to sum up what can happen in education in the course of about 10 years.

I was raised up believing
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking
I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me

The question I suppose is: do our education systems make children believe they are snowflakes or cogs?