High School Training ground

At 7:45 AM I open the doors to a building

A building filled to the brim with insecurities

Insecurities from the fact we can’t live up to the perfect student all teachers want

Insecurities because that poetry genius can’t understand the calculus homework

Insecurities because the student with a 4.4 GPA can’t get above a 24 on the ACT

Insecurities because standardized testing is supposed to level the playing field

But that same level crushes those with test anxiety and dyslexia

But those problems are forgotten in the sea of conformity of the school system

My high school is Denver

not the school where we are given the choice

A B C D or E

Life, well life doesn’t lay out those choices so clearly

Defined by the grade

A B C D F

Well, life isn’t like that either

In our relationships, in our jobs

we are ‘graded’ on our dedication

our compassion and gratitude

and I think it's funny high school doesn’t emphasize that more

Education does not coincide with percentages

Percentages do not show intelligence

GPA shows work ethic

But sometimes that work ethic has to be focused on jobs to support ourselves

Sometimes that work ethic has to be focused on not being suicidal

Sometimes that work ethic is dedicated to volunteering to help those in need

Yet all of those reasons are overlooked for school work is supposed to be our world

Making the one around us fade away

The colors of the changing leaves

The snow just covering the peaks of the mountains

Blurred like the beautiful words when water is spilled over a freshly written poem

Beauty becomes forgotten when it is not emphasized

And in my 14 years of school, this beauty has never gotten credit

Sought to sort out the regulars from the honors

Because apparently it's not an honor

To be in good health

To keep our sanity in check

To not feel crushed by hours of work

After another couple hours of work

Sometimes they don’t offer an honors class

for what it is we enjoy learning most

Because honors are held on a pedestal

Well I have something to say, I am one on that pedestal

And I’m sick of being held so high

The clouds are blocking my view

But when I float back down to the ground  

It’s like my education doesn’t matter anymore

What are we supposed to sacrifice to get the education we deserve?

LPS is a training ground

Training us how to have a panic attack

When our principal comes on the intercom in the middle of the day

Stuck in such a time full of violence, we are forced to assume

our safety is endangered

LPS is a training ground

training us how to follow rules  

Well, I’ve had 14 years of this training and I’m ready

I’m ready to actually learn something

Something worth-while, something to make my heart beat faster

Out of passion, out of love  

Our generation is taught to ignore

Taught to push those sad feelings down

because they aren’t real, our hormones are just going crazy

We are told to focus on what is important, our grades

We are taught to ignore

To ignore those on the streets

So we won’t become those sad eyes that stumbled down the wrong path

because they didn’t focus on their education like they should have

This is why we are taught to ignore

so we won’t think more

If we ignore, we won’t stop to think maybe those now sad eyes

were very successful, very well off

but one tiny mistake came and swept them away

into the streets we walk down every day

Where their own brothers pass them by, without blinking an eye

Because we are taught to ignore

Homework is busywork

Full of crosswords and word searches that don’t actually teach us anything

Work given so the teacher feels like they’re doing their job right

Worksheet after worksheet supposed to help us ‘learn’

but we just copy the book anyway

Never having to apply it ourselves or think about how the topic makes us feel

forgotten metaphors simply because we were never allowed to actually understand

Reason, Support, Explanation but never application

I hear the education systems are failing

and really I’m not surprised

We learn nothing about how to go into the world as an adult

There’s no class on how to balance a checkbook, how to take out loans

If my clothes ever rip, I won’t know how to sew them back together

So where will I be then?

When I can’t sew MYSELF back together

When I have have completed my education and gotten my degree

But I still won’t know how to do anything other than read, copy, and repeat

Maybe we shouldn’t blame the education system alone

Maybe we need to take a look at our society in itself

What are we doing to change it?