What School Really Is...Through the Eyes of a Middle-School Student

Schools supposed to be about learning. Right? You learn at school. School = Education. Heh, well, guess what? I'm not getting educated. Millions of kids across the nation are not getting educated. What are they doing, you ask? Why, they are doing nothing but the most ridiculous of jumping through hoops. Hoops? Yes, hoops. Homework. Assignments. Projects. Presentations. Hoops. Do you learn from them? Heck no. Do you have to do them? Absolutely. Jump through them well and you get good grades. Jump through them poorly or not at all... and you fail.

School grades don't reflect what you actually know. They reflect how well you jump through hoops. Yer gonna see that analogy here A LOT...jumping through hoops. But you know what else? We're in a cage. We can't escape if we want to. We can't live life or experience the things we learn in school. If it were up to me, school would end after 6th grade, after you've learned addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You've pretty much covered everything you're actually going to use in life. The basic sciences, histories, maths, spellings and grammars. THE BASICS.

And then after that, you choose your classes, the direction you think you want to take in life. You like music? Great. Take five music classes. Don't feel stressed to take one music/art class, two science, one math, one history. You could pursue a farming career, or acting, or plumbing, or something else that doesn't require an extensive knowledge of history or math or science. But if you're interested in marine biology, or computer technology, or writing, you could continue to go to school to learn things that are not the basics of everyday life. Advanced sciences, algebra and trigonometry, lots of history, or advanced English. And graduation wouldn't be dependent on the number of hoops you jump through- er, excuse me. Credits you earn- but rather be based on whether or not you feel you are done, or if you have reached the level you wish to achieve.

This would solve many problems, but most of all, it would solve the problem that most people don't even see- cranking us out all the same. We're supposed to be individual, and apparently that's our choice, but how can we be individual if we are all supposed to do the same things as everyone else? Some of our talents go undeveloped. Like arts. But if we aren't gifted in math, we fail in life. What...?

ART CUTS ARE JACKED UP. DO NOT CUT THE ARTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL. YEAH, YOU OBAMA!! Art is fun. Some people are exceptionally gifted at art, or would genuinely like to become a professional artist. But yet the arts are being cut. So we're even more the same. Obama wants us to be up there with the Asian countries. HA, I say. HAHA! How are we supposed to do that without art? It's actually much more important than many people care to acknowledge.

Without art, school is a rainshower with no umbrella. Seriously. Art class is fun. Drawing is fun. Getting clay all over your hands and making pottery is fun. If you don't have fun at school, then why would anyone care about it? At all? Arts make school fun. You got art class? Good. School's funner for you, then. (As a side note...spellcheck recognizes "funner" as a real word! Yes! We won!) Not even to mention the millions and millions of dollars that schools spend on sports and sports equipment every year? Hey, here's a newsflash. Those kids who aren't really athletic? Like, 50%? They're probably artsy. Art. Artsy smartsy fartsy. And chances are, some of them feel bad about themselves for not being athletic. But if they shine in art? They can draw? Sculpt? Sing? Play violin? They belong. They feel better about themselves. Which leads to less stress, less depression, less suicide. I wish someone up on the top would get wise to this kind of thing.
  

In conclusion, schools are state-funded prison camps.

With loads of hoop-jumping.