Let's re-phrase those to keep the analogy a little more accurate: If I hadn't been able to scribble in the margins of my art books, I never would have learned

Let's re-phrase those to keep the analogy a little more accurate: If I hadn't been able to scribble in the margins of my art books, I never would have learned to draw. If all my meals had come pre-packaged and pre-approved by the food board with raw ingredients prohibited, then I would never have learned to cook. If I could watch professional soccer but was prohibited from playing myself except on a regulation field (none of which were near my house) then I wouldn't have learned to play. The existence of closed systems doesn't harm learning. But if the tools we give people are closed systems rather than open ones, that DOES harm learning... folks will learn to work with tools others build but will NOT learn to build it themselves. Which works great for becoming better consumers, but perhaps isn't the best way to create a new generation of inventors and innovators.