Last semester my grade was an A

But now its dropped to a B

And in front of me I see her life flashing

A lone-depressed student barely passing

I see the homework piled up on her floors

Her family whining at how she never does chores

I see the tears stains on the pillow of her bed

From all the times she lied there wishing she was dead

I see the mirror and its image standing still

Yelling at the girl who doesn't seem to have a will

Who has somehow lost the thrill

Marching through her life as though its some robotic drill

But still

I saw this all in the blink of an eye

As I stared at the paper forcing myself not to cry

Because just for a second

I felt the such a feeling

The hot raw emotion so unappealing

In dealing with grades

The Fs and the As

The five letters which tell us what we can be

They tell us what we can do

And what we can see

They stamp us with labels

Stupid, smart, and confused

Then hand us our life's back

With nothing left to chose

I told myself that no one knew what I was feeling

That not a single person could understand what I was dealing with

But little did I know that all across the nation

Across the world

Across the Galaxy

Across the teenage population

Millions of people

Who are just like you and me

From the preppy college students

Way down to elementary

Are living with this burden

Of their futures on their shoulders

I'm telling you these five year olds are look too much older

Because they are growing grey hairs by the time they turn nine

Because they don't understand how to write in cursive or grammar or divide

Because they are told when they're barely old enough to learn to tie their shoes

That the letters on their papers will determine if they win or lose

At the big looming game that we decided to call life

Because if you have an F in Chemistry

You’ll never get a wife

And if you are no good at English

I guess you really shouldn't speak

And if you can’t solve a math problem

Your mind is far too weak

To ever consider gaining an education that's above the High School level

Because we all know that in High School teenagers all got it together

Because they know themselves inside out

They know the way they think

They understand their bodies perfectly and never need time to breathe

So why not give them tests to take

And homework hours long

Why not assign them presentations to practice all night long

Because WE know that in the future

It matters that they know the temperatures of the tundra biome

And the sequences of deoxyribonucleic acid required to make a ribosome

Why not throw in a classroom where they are confined to their seats

Where they are told to sit in quiet little rows and raise their hands to speak

Why not call them up in front of peers to be mocked and laughed at and teased

Because it will build up their confidence when they see what they can do

We have to break them down first so they can know what tools to use

But what our system doesn't understand is that nothing can be fixed

Are minds are not like Lego pieces

That you can remove and then remix

Children love to learn and their naturally curious

So why is it that once in school

Learning takes a hit

Because instead of understanding we memorize

Instead of communicating with other people

We make the computers synthesize

All trace of emotion seems to be erased

And since it's gone it left behind no trail left to chase

I cried when I saw that my grade in Geometry

Had suddenly, disturbingly dropped to a B

Because I had been taught that if you ever got an F

Your life was a failure

No car and no future

No money or education

No family, no remembrance, no celebration

The alphabet goes from A right down to B

So why is it the end of the world if I ever get a

C