The Way I See It | Teen Ink

The Way I See It

December 15, 2017
By Anonymous

Average Teacher:
“Do you guys realize what kind of time
I put into these lessons?
These practice sheets?
These homeworks?
These quizzes?
The size of the paperwork mountains of your work I’ve moved
and the “oops I forgot” oceans I have crossed
For you guys
who don’t do the homework
who expect all of these retakes
and demand a second chance
but with no room to advance

You guys are thinking that college will be
happy skies,
Kare Bears
and parted seas
just for you
But college is not going to be a walk in the park, yet rougher than lightning struck bark

Average Student:
“WOW! Thank you so much
that makes me feel so much better about my education
and opportunities and insecurities
I feel like now I can be the King of the world
and of rainbow heavens
where grins are blown around,
and joy is contagious
where everyone is:
courageous
advantageous
even ageless
Everyone famous in their own ways
Oh how painless it will be if college is like that
That is DEFINITELY what I think college will be like

Yeah, right.

And of course, one week will pass, and during one class, 20 years goes by
for you to explain all about our lacks and lapses
but we aren’t going to start the lesson
but until the last 30 minutes of class
but then you’ll give us another spiel
about how we,
your minions,
your robots
and subordinates
didn’t obey and finish the chores
we have been oh so fortunate to be responsible for…

Your busy work is a waste of our time
But if we don’t do it,
it is a felony and misdemeanor,
a die hard crime
Our undeniable attempts and weary endeavors
go unnoticed on most of what you assign
But when we do something wrong
you consider switching to part-time

And in your case we are just another place
for a hole in your punch card

But aren’t you shaping the minds of tomorrow?
Changing and altering, molding and unfolding, manipulating and even rating the way we think?
The knowledge we know
And the smarts we spread faster than a flash flood
And even then you find us
gullible,
breakable
irresponsible,
and always available

But you won't have a problem taking credit for the kids
who turn out to be
aeronautical
astronomical
mathematical
phenomenal

Average Student:
“And oh,
yeah,
In case you didn’t notice
I’m still talking
So you’ll have to wait your turn”

Just you watch we will turn out to be
unstoppable
Traveling to the places of your dreams,
and oh, by the way, they’re tropical
While you are “changing” the world
With your SOL standards and lesson plans

Some of you know and some of you don’t
We are complex and convoluted and compound,
a conglomerate of confused and quick children
But apparently you know it all
because you were once a teenager
Except, I’ll have you know, sweetie,
times have changed,
and your tricks are now our treats

You say your expectations have fallen
But they’ve really risen like the Powerball
Calling daily the hopeful participants,
The students you appreciate
and the students you abhor
like the Sunday night chores

We need to be comfortable,
confident even
Just one relaxed muscle,
to feel accepted like the lottery
and worthy,
like the word of God,
of the knowledge you should give us for free
But really with all of this hassle it’s a pretty big fee

Although you have a hard time listening to our ideas
We try and talk
We try and relate
We try and disclose
But aren’t you the ones
that bestow upon us the knowledge
of exposed verbalization?

Our self confidence differs
But I hope it won’t change because
of the bitter prospect
our quitter generations use
to view a swifter future

We do our best
but sitting next to the exceedingly accomplished children
who feel discouraged with anything less that an 98%
That’s kinda hard,
and makes us feel demolished,
simply by their expectations
We are simply just shadows
behind the strong and secure minds
who simply think within the realms of the box
and are rewarded rather
than the students whose minds stray far
from the top constraints of reality
and yet their grades suffer the most
And that is the only thing people care about these days

We try and break that expectation by saying,
“Your GPA doesn’t define you!”
But really at the end of the year
all anyone talks about is the line
that separates intellectual ability from creativity,
and blue from Tiffany

But all I know, without a doubt
in my utterly capable mind,
according to you,

is that, we can try to do it all,
even though we know we can’t

But we surely know
we can’t do half as much
if we don't have you


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