Breaking of the Bones: III

Breaking of the Bones: III

It wasn’t meant to be torture, or so I’m told
It is just a simple case of getting too old
Legs shaking, bones quaking before they fold
Skin fading to paler shades and growing cold

I don’t want to face this demon, not now
I’m not battle-born, I know not how
It has no face, just an idea we endow
I’m terrified, I cannot lie, this I avow

I feel my strength draining day by day
Simple things grow harder as I decay
My loved ones, they know not what to say
Perhaps this is just the price we all pay

I’d scream in agony if I thought it would help
Yet I hardly seem capable of a meager yelp

I suppose I’ll fade into memory soon
Oh this fate to which none are immune.

The Downfall of America’s Public “School” Systems: Why I’m Disgusted

The schools of today now model prison systems—there’s bomb sniffing dogs to check for drugs in students’ private lockers without a search warrant, metal detectors placed at the entrances, students “not allowed” to leave without a note or administration’s consent, and my personal favorite, students receiving forced detentions by the “teachers” just to spite them. The whole thing is a pitiful mess of epic proportions, which stems from traditional ideology that the student is always wrong while the teacher is always right—no matter what; no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Ask any kid who’s in high school or elementary school and they will tell you this and probably more.

The youth of today are brainwashed from a young age to learn that thinking for themselves is bad—they know and live by the fact that anything and everything they learn will come from their textbooks and their teachers. If they dare venture outside of the curriculum, it will count for nothing. The lectures in these schools, most of time, are boring and dry, given by a teacher who actually has no clue how to “teach” anything, and simply follows what the textbook tells them to do. There’s no creativity, there’s no hands-on learning. The system hasn’t changed from the spark of time—you go to class, sit down, shut up, listen to some idiot give a useless lecture, run home to do homework, and then get up the next morning to do it all over again.

And everyone wonders WHY kids and teenagers hate school so badly. Why wouldn’t they hate school? They have nothing to look forward to other than their friends and maybe lunch time, but usually that’s a joke too, as most cafeteria food consists of day old meat thrown in the microwave and served on a hockey puck bread stick.

Don’t forget that most students are not allowed to argue with a teacher, laugh in class too much, or be playful without consequences. Children’s natural curiosity and playfulness is viciously taken away from them by around the time they hit the 5^th grade. This notion is exemplified by power-hungry groups of dictatorial staff, who are out to ruin lives and futures by accusing children and teenagers of serious crimes over nothing, aka “zero tolerance policies.” Such is the case for 17-year-old, Sam McNair, who was suspended from school for a year and charged with sexual harassment for “hugging” a teacher, thereby preventing him from a receiving a lacrosse scholarship (source). Or for Erin Cox, an honors-student who was demoted from being the captain of her volleyball team and also suspended five games, for rescuing one of her friends from a party who was too drunk to drive home (source).

That’s right—Cox drank zero alcohol (which is on the official police report), and demonstrated only kindness and affection towards her friend, but the disgusting and ruthless administration “told her” that she violated the school’s zero tolerance policy for alcohol and drugs, even though she had never consumed either of those things. So in other words, the school is training students that preventing drunk driving accidents is a BAD thing and will NOT be “tolerated,” otherwise they’ll face punishment. Shame on those sick bastards, what a rotten thing to do to some poor girl. And the list goes on and on.

If you haven’t realized already, the complete reform of our school systems is absolutely needed. All the lazy, idiotic, and power-hungry teachers need to be fired from their jobs and replaced with enthusiastic, caring, smart, creative, and loving teachers. Our children hate these places because they are treated like inmates and most of the time, they never enjoy the learning process. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our children could attend school with teachers that actually care? With a school system who treats their students with respect and not like slaves? Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of them learning from textbooks, they learned hands-on and participated in creative learning games that would help them to remember the information better?

No…..the schools won’t do any of that. It probably violates a zero tolerance policy or some equally moronic set of rules.

-Anthony

P.S. There’s a fantastic movie which shows many of the things I’ve been talking about in this article, it’s called “The War on Kids.” I would HIGHLY recommend that everyone watch this. View the trailer here.