If I had a dime for every time

I've head a student say,

"I could have just stayed home from school today,"

I could pay for my college tuition.

And I always used to wonder how

So many of my peers

Could hate the things I'd done with ease for years.

Times tables, reading checks? Easy as Pi!

But older, wiser, more mature

I sit before you now;

And I think I understand exactly how.

What happened to them happens to many others.

Because for me as well as them,

The jewel of learning does

Now vanish, and where once it was

A jaded stone; hard, cold, lifeless, apathetic!

As the subjects being taught

By the teachers whose stories are the same as ours.

The beauty of a chemical reaction is ignored

As students balance work and play with equations.

The wonders of the past now lessoned by lessons in history,

Appear dull and disappointing to a disheartened lectur-ee.

The flourishes of functions quiet - Shhh! - for a quiz.

The delights of demand wane by the worksheet,

The pleasures of poetry ebb with every essay,

And Gravity's gravity grows less and less as the physics tests race by

Declaring "F for Failure, no college for you,"

Or "A+ for Awesome, plus it's time for another test!

We'll see how you do."

What does it mean? What is it for?

Why am I here? Why am I here?

I could have just stayed home...