I like you. You seem like a nice person, so I'm going to give you this really nice pen.
I hear you say, "thank you," with a glint in your eye that says you are really pleased. You are happy to have such a wonderful pen.
I happen to bump into you the next day and give you another pen. You are happy because now you can give a nice pen to your partner. Again, you are happy. Maybe not quite as happy as you were the first time, but still happy.
If I give you a nice pen each time I see you then you would become increasingly less happy. Over time you might even start to avoid me, just so as not to have another "nice pen" given on you.
But it could be worse - maybe legislation gets passed which requires you to be given a nice pen each day. Now, you would resent the pens and seek to avoid them whenever possible. The pens are nice. The pens are useful. But you would resent them.
Is this the situation we have created in education? My overseas students from countries with poor educational infrastructure want the very thing my home grown students find "boring". The system has taken the fun out of education by making it compulsory. It takes a wise child to see the benefits when the main priority is looking good and chasing potential partners. The will to learn is not lost, but the nature of compulsory education means its value is zero (or less).
An atomised curriculum would take the compulsion away whilst still achieving the same goal. We would all work at our own speed, forging ahead in some areas and catching up in others so that we can further our interests. At the same time the teachers can lay the qualification requirements over the atom achievements to see the gaps and provide the carrots. We would then be choosing to have another pen, rather than having it forced on us.