The Truth.

Paradoxical as it sounds, there are some kinds of knowledge that get in the way of other kinds of knowledge. If you're going to learn that the world is a brutal place full of people trying to take advantage of one another, you're better off learning it last. Otherwise you won't bother learning much more.

The world sucks and it's made up of people who are self-serving. Self-preservation is animal instinct. First comes your needs and then when you've had your fill, you might give to other people. This should be one of the first things that people learn so that they don't get swindled or conned by other people. Otherwise you won't be given any opportunities, period.

College courses for instance are mostly graded on a class bell curve. This basically means that if you are relatively smarter than your classmates, your grades will be around a B/A. If you are relatively dumber than your classmates, your grades will be around D/C. In harder classes, the competition can get brutal as everyone wants to get higher grades. This is because we often associate higher grades with success and a better life. Hence self-preservation.

If a child isn't aware that other children want the same things they do, work as hard as they do, and may compete harder for them in order to get it, then they will be screwed. Even wolves have a theory of mind and acknowledge that other animals have sentient thought processes that dictate terms for survival and self-preservation. This is what allows them to coordinate within the pack (coordination) and corner other animals (flanking movements).

If you're afraid of other people being jerks, then you are screwed. Because other people will come and take everything from you, if you don't fight back.