“Besides, we have our stability to think of. We don’t want to change. Every change is a menace to stability. That’s another reason why we’re so chary of applying new inventions. Every discovery in pure science is potentially subversive; even must sometimes be treated as a possible enemy. Yes, even science… Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled…
I was a pretty good physicist in my time. Too good–good enough to realize that all our science is just a cookery book, with an orthodox theory of cooking that nobody’s allowed to question, and a list of recipes that mustn’t be added to except by special permission from the head cook…I started doing a bit of cooking on my own. Unorthodox cooking, illicit cooking. A bit of real science, in fact. …
‘What happened?’ asked Helmholtz Watson.
‘I was on the point of being sent to an island.’ Mustapha Mond”
p. 225-226 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Old quote (1932) but pretty telling of the state of not only science, but all learning in most schools today.