There is a problem inherent

         in the instruction of the masses,

shoehorned into classes where

         questions are standardized.

Answers, too, are standardized,

freethinking’s not encouraged,

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but facts are mass-produced

          that lack the bliss of discovery;

The emphasis on the answer moves

          focus from the journey, and

          in turn it beats a weakness

          deep inside the student body:

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They learn not to feed the fire

          that leads to truth tomorrow,

instead they fill in ovals meant

          to trick a mind that’s hurried.

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We bury our children in a grave

          that’s made an institution,

a glorified daycare

where the staff are slaves and wardens

in a prison-race started by

           dying men that worship trophies.

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We wonder why the ignorant,

starved,

gorge on information,

unsubstantiated drivel that might

           be culled

by an adolescent

           taught to question the answer.

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Why wonder when it’s simple?

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Shortcuts become simple.

The young skim the surface

           Of what is factual.

They do not bother turning

           Over rocks to find actual truths,

instead they roll-over for the first answer they are given,

a pity of a pittance,

or they gleam for one that suits their purpose.

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There is a problem deep in the

           bones of education,

a weakening of character and a loss of great muscle,

it’s a hustle, a sham, in this atrophying nation.

That curiosity, that seems died too young,

it’s no longer worth tending.

Alabama cuts spending and slices up the budget.

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The children struggle with meaningless answers to questions unremembered.

They cannot struggle.

They were never taught to.

Allowed to.

Those who rise, do so through the cruelest of competition.

Without intervention, we should throwaway the future.

Throwaway tomorrow.

Simply throwaway all doubts that we’ll slide into the ocean.

A sorrowful end to sorrowful people who could not change.

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Here’s a notion:

The system, It’s factory farming.

Its focus? Grade A cages without room for free ranging.

Without room for mistakes made freely in good conscience.

It’s alarming, the toxins we pump into their system,

cookie-cutter plans that risk clouding reason and

           clotting thinking.

We owe them more than easily-assemble boxes

           they can shove themselves into.

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There is a problem inherent in the instruction of masses.

If we don’t face it

we can’t outlast it.