Most of the best books aren’t taught in class (just a tiny fraction). So once you have the tools, there are many books out there waiting for you. So maybe a number are sacrificed to class, but it’s a tiny fraction.

The lack of appreciating symbols has to do also with the literal nature of interpreting our surrounding. We used to attach more meaning to seemingly unimportant things (eclipses, flowers, weather) because we didn’t understand how they occur.

Some of the lesson is about acquiring the interlinear sense for symbols. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man used to be taught in AP English because the use of color and symbol is insanely intense (overbearing). I.e., the sounds of words refer to other meaning and myth around flight.