He goes to school because there is a lot to learn. He goes to kindergarten so he can get into first grade, and he goes to high school so he can go to college. He realized there is a lot to learn, that before he takes his place in the adult world it must be learned and that he has to work to learn.
But I went to school, Bishop told himself. I went for years and years. I studied hard and I passed an examination that a thousand others failed to pass. I qualified for Kimon.
But just suppose.
You went to kindergarten to qualify for first grade.
You went to high school to qualify for college.
You went to Earth to qualify for Kimon.
You might have a doctorate on Earth, but still be no more than a kindergarten youngster when you got to Kimon.
Monty knew a bit of telepathy and so did some of the others. Maxine could teleport herself and she had made the glass stop before it hit the floor. Perhaps the others could, too.
And they'd just picked it up.
Although just telepathy or stopping a glass from hitting the floor would not be all of it. There'd be much more of it. Much more to the culture of Kimon than the parapsychic arts.