To me, being a student means
stress, late nights, and anxiety.

Tests that assess how much we know;
as if our personal worth can be discovered
In half an hour.

Grades that are supposed to mean everything to us,
Marks that will have a hand in
determining our futures.

As if a written essay, or a reading comprehension test
could assess our significance, the value we will put into the world.

But this is how the world sees us:
a few marks based on a few sheets of paper
that, to society, represent us.
An exam that only took a few hours of our time,
but was supposed to sum up the worthiness of the first 18 years of our lives.

Eighteen years spent learning:
12 years in an oppressive environment
where our ability to memorize what we were
Being told was used to judge our merit.

5 hours a day, being told what to say
What to do, which formula to use,
Add on two or three more hours
of homework, more information
that will never be used.

We are told how to live our lives for the first
two decades we live, then expected

To leave the nest, to know
what we want from life, how we will change the world,
how we will make a difference.

How are we supposed to know?

i don't.