Our educational system is inherently sequential. One page follows another, chapters follow each other, classes follow each other, and so it goes. This is a bad template for understanding the natural world. By our system for inculcating information into children we decieve, not purposely, them into believing that one thing usually follows another. One thing is usually inside another. Teaching a fair amount of pedagogical skepticism is probably the best innoculation against this bad thought template.
Likewise, I am not sure that the Euclidian 3-space alternative is any better. I suppose it's not worse, but something nags me about it. Perhaps "linear" algebra was the best 'user exit' from these. Interestingly enough, Wikipedia has this to say about the Euclidian method of describing space: "An implication of Einstein's theory of general relativity is that Euclidean geometry is only a good approximation to the properties of physical space if the gravitational field is not too strong." Maybe that's the answer, teach our children that each description is just 'a good approximation'.
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