12 Years A Student

12 years a slave...scratch that..12 years a student 

Fallen victim to the system 

A high GPA means a high IQ, right?

All A’s doesn’t mean you think better

Just proves that you didn’t erase what those chalkboard connoisseurs drew out for you...the blueprints

It’s all in the plans

They don’t want you to think and they definitely don’t want a young black man like myself going on and on about the flaws of mankind we’ve become so accustomed to 

12 years a slave…..12 years a student

Dumping money into the school’s bank account doesn’t make smarter pupils 

Sure the graduation rate is 98%, but how many of those well craffted droids will change the world

Hard wired to regurgitate any information they obtain 

“You read book, to learn facts, to get grades, to pass the course, to get a degree. That’s al. It has nothing to do with thoughts”

What happened to philosophy? WHY, did we stop asking WHY?

“Google has all the answers”...HA, Google?!

Government Operated Ominous Grandeur Layman's Experience 

It’s all dumbed down because the common man can’t withstand ideas so grand because his mind can’t expand 

All just raisins in the sun

Dried up minds and left behind

This cataclysmic catastrophe won’t plague me 

Not enough to just hear, you have to listen 

Comprehension is only way to advance 

Those who just possess facts are deemed “smart” 

But it does not bode well when those random tidbits of information hold no substance

How can you being “smart”, How can you be a “genius” when, to you, understanding the world is meaningless 

12 years a slave….12 years a student

The system is ruthless 

Degrees from universities raise your rank in the American caste system 

It's called a caste because America's still broken 

Too many still hopeless 

But they fail to realize that if the sky is the limit, a quality education could make you a rocket scientist

Public housing to public school to petty crimes to probation to incarceration to damnation and cremation 

I'm aware my people are racing 

Running to beat the clock because when it strikes 21, I may vanish off the face of the earth...or maybe not 

I praise gods, Zeus and Athena

The school will say it's my ACT scores, but I think my pen swag is a much better indicator of my gift 

Stringing words together like Mozart strung melodies 

I am the anomaly, but I dont have to be

The only difference between me and the guy dropping out 26 seconds from now, and 26 seconds from then, and 26 seconds from then is early indication that education is means of escaping

The projects are an effort to bury the black man deeper than the 6 feet he's expecting by 21

The government earns an A plus

But the science fair is never fair

He'll never win the blue ribbon