The American school system is one thing I’ve had my entire life to reflect upon. I have spent most of my fifteen years in a classroom where my creativity and yearning for individualized education is meant to be put on the back burner, only because common core criteria is more important. Of course, the essentials are necessary, like basic math, history, english, etc. There is only so much that you can drill into our heads before we realize we are just worn out kids. Over the years, my enthusiasm and excitement to learn have been destroyed by stress and force to basically sit still and shut up. We’re ignoring children’s exhaustion and opinions because of stubborn and outdated standards. We’re destroying individuality and creators because of ridiculous textbooks from the seventies. We’re teaching children to grow up and conform instead of teaching them how to think for themselves. We’re setting ourselves up for failure with this useless nonsense, absolutely useless.