I’d like to administer a test to schools out there.

Now please, answer honestly,

And this is no cause for despair.

How many times have you seen a student in your class

Sit silently in the back without raising his hand

And wondered, “Is he daft?”

And not, “What’s he thinking?”

Not wondering, “What’s on his mind?”

But, “It’s a shame his grades are sinking.”

Not taking action, just standing there, not even debating,

When you should’ve talked to him,

Maybe he was waiting.

This is the problem with schools, my friend.

Not focused on life, but on the lesson plan.

Wrapped up in the cultish religion that

A fifty-question multiple-choice test determines intelligence,

Determines the future, determines ability.

To those who believe this, what’s the purpose of school?

We all can sit in the back of the classroom,

Trying not to drool,

As our teachers drone on about protists and bacteria.

Students don’t hate school, they’re just wondering,

“Why am I here?”

“When will I need this?”

“Is this on the test?”

Are these the kind of thoughts you expect from the best? I bet you’re in doubt.
Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates?

Of course, they never said it! Alas, they were drop-outs

Schools were created for what?

To raise workers.

Schools are simply factories

Who teach how to follow direct orders.

Factories make products--

With grades--

Are you concerned yet?

Maybe I’m wrong.

After all, I agree schools are necessary.

But think about it--

What’s the ratio of useless knowledge to self-care?

To passion? To government? To money management? To the arts?

What’s more important to him?

Cellular mitosis or car parts?

She’s wrapped up in homework,

But dreaming of making blueberry tarts.

She does her school work,

But she’s an artist with makeup and longs to make hair glisten.

When he said he’d found a gift with words,

Thank God no one listened.

I’m not going to hate on school--

I like school, I need school--

But shouldn’t we consider that school is kind of like a pool?

A pool that holds the student body--

Fish swimming upstream.

A pool of drool from sleep deprivation--

(thank God he knew cross-multiplication)

A pool of vomit on the bathroom floor--

(thank God she knew where Auguste Piccard explored)

A pool of water in a cup meant to ease down pills--

(thank God they knew how many people Yellow fever had killed)

I know what you’re thinking.

Isn’t that extreme?

Absurd? Misinformed?

Downright a lie?

And in a different time and place, maybe you’d be right.

But this is here, and this is now,

And schools have become a series of choices.

Education or arts? Because there’s very little in-between.

We’re studying rocks and minerals when we need sleep,

Our legs are firmly crossed--

(‘cause believe it or not, we have to pee)--

and we live in a small world where every action is regulated,

But some choices are too big to be made for us.

They tell us, “Grow up!”

(then shelter us from politics)

They tell us we’re clueless

(then refuse to inform us)

Some things little kindergarteners shouldn’t know,

But teenagers shouldn’t have to stand on their toes

Just to see the world beyond the tip of their nose

Beyond the wall of words meant to dominate us

Built by whom? Our elders

Reading scripts their elders gave them.

Well, words have power.

Schools teach that, but they’re clueless

That the creator of standardized tests warned us

that they’re USELESS.

Look, I can bubble in A, B, C, or D

But can I pay taxes?

Can I stand up to bullies?

The answer is no on both accounts.

School’s lessons are flawed,

And all but useless,

It’s time they open their eyes and see

Not a bunch of children

but a sea of opportunity

And that it’s okay if not everyone’s a scientist,

But be proud of ever janitor, secretary, and personal trainer.

So to conclude, the school system is fatally flawed,

But not dead yet, and there’s time before it falls

Further into the jaws of regulation and conformity

(quite a depth)

And that’s great and all, but I think schools have earned an F.

F is not for failure anymore, it never should have been,

But F forever means

Find another solution.