When did learning become a

numbers game?

School bureaucracy sets a quota;

the teacher follows.

Encriching the spongey, porous brains of youth

is replaced by

a battle field of data and

statistics.

Who's below average when

F's become C's and 

D's become B's?

Passion to learn,

Desire for knowledge,

Thrill of broadening the depths of the mind

is a historic notion.