New Delhi, May 27 -- Human knowledge is growing. Across every field, the accumulated understanding of humanity is deepening and expanding. This is something to celebrate. It also creates a serious and under-appreciated problem for school education.

When education systems feel obligated to transmit ever-growing knowledge to children, the curriculum must also expand with it. But schooling is a limited phase; formal school education is generally constrained to 12 years.

The result, visible in schools across many countries including India, are curricula of extraordinary density. Students in classes six to 12 move through dense theoretical content across multiple subjects, including matters once addressed at the undergraduate level, all with...