by Erin Ajello
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste”
Or so these signs hung in schools say.
I want to agree such is the case
but I’m wasting mine everyday.
Nine hours in four classrooms.
and adults say “get used to it.”
They all seem to assume that
after nine hours we get to quit.
They come home, shower, change
check what movie’s on that night.
I get home to a range
of assignments to be done just right.
My nine hour days are spent
‘participating’, ‘engaging’, ‘discussing’
whatever our professor meant.
But we’re just sitting trying
To earn our daily percent
of participation credit.
Saying the same sentence
Different than others said it.
Nine hours of no computers, no phone
(it’s all a distraction)
No bathroom breaks, food, drink of our own
But our professors get their breaks in.
We watch our days pass us by,
study and write as our health declines,
no free time to truly try
to keep past friendships on the line.
But they say we’ve all gotten smarter,
the more tests, the higher the grades.
They say we’ll go father
even as our happiness fades.
Ignore the prevalence of depression,
pay no thought to anxiety.
What we need is more lessons
and less teens standing idly.
I guess they haven’t seen bathrooms
where every teen pulls out a pill.
We try to joke when we say we’re doomed,
begging chemicals for a sense of will.
They say we’re doing fine.
Maybe the adults can’t see
that we’re losing our minds
thanks to their society.
