seven hours a day/five days a week/a hundred eighty days per year

i have to wonder where they're going with all of this.

like, i understand that school is supposed to help us learn how to learn,

or whatever, but, um

when's lunch?

how can you hope to prepare anyone for anything if all that matters is your capacity to memorize

to repeat

to regurgitate

and then to discard when the test is over?

it's true that an education is the greatest gift you can give a child

but this isn't the way to do it!

i go to school and get talked at for seven hours and then go home and try to commit it to memory

and then when i don't do that well enough i get reprimanded

and then they tell me, in no uncertain terms

that my future literally depends on my capacity to remember who led some army or what an adverb is or how to factor a polynomial

and that my value as a human being rides solely on my grade point average

and it makes me feel terrible.

i know that they're wrong but it drains me to hear it.

teachers, please, know this: 

I WANT TO LEARN!

i love to learn!

it's one of my greatest passions.

but i can't do that if you won't help me.

if you really do love what you do,

show us.

ask us what we want to learn about.

give us more than fill-in-the-blank worksheets.

engage us.

i know it's frustrating to keep our attention

i know you've got a curriculum to fulfill

but, i promise, if you're willing to make a change,

you'll see the sparks of young minds coming to life

and it will pay off, for you, for me, for us, for everyone.

the future is in your hands.

please take care of it.