Continents are categorised as such for convenience. It may be arbitrary, but human society can not function without definitions and categorisations. There is no evil conspiracy to control children, merely bureaucratic conventions, however arbitrary and poorly designed, for ease of classification. What will you rant about next? Traffic signials being some type of Pavlovian conditioning tool to make people be wary of the color "red" and "yellow," because the "green" dye-makers union control the 'gubermint?

The first and primary principle that every student must master is obedience, without which no instruction is possible. Man cannot "freethink" himself into mastering any technical skills, many of which are counter-intuitive. As Solon admonished the arrogant Athenians: learn to obey before you command. Accepting bureaucratic conventions is part of that obedience all students must master.