metaphor in education; hidden but effective

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the role of metaphor in education. the main thesis is that the metaphors shape our attitude towards education implicitly. with this aim in mind, first, the concept of metaphor is briefly introduced, and then three of the most famous metaphors that have been used in education (factories, gardening and travel), and their differences are discussed. medical education is a long period that in different levels different purposes should be achieved. for instance, while in basic science teaching takes place in classrooms and labs, this will switch to bedside teaching in clinical years. it seems that none of the above mentioned metaphors is adequate for designing a curriculum in medical education and we need a combination of these three for a more comprehensive curriculum planning.