The System, by Alezzandra Tesorio

The+System%2C+by+Alezzandra+Tesorio

Alezzandra Tesorio, Staff Writer

To be honest, I don’t care about my grades

Whenever that statement slips out of my mouth

I often get concerning stares and awful glares

that somehow no one could bear that I just dared

to say that I don’t care

I grew up being taught that the most essential thing

In this world is to attend school

To get an education that will serve as a foundation

for a life without limitation

So all I’ve done so far was:

solve math equations,

cite book quotations,

do annotations,

follow strict directions,

and bottle this growing frustration

all for a good semester evaluation

Because that’s the only way

to head to graduation

And I believe it’s safe to say that

I’ve fallen into a trap

of misconception and false information

Don’t get me wrong,

I’m not promoting school is bad

or that you should no longer aim for that grad

All am saying is that there’s a slight

fault in the system in which influences

a student’s development

Teaching us that our

distance starting from zero to the right side

of the number line determines how wide

the door of opportunities will open for us

We allowed the system to

measure our beings in such a petty way

in which by the way features

a negative 0.001% accuracy rate

Then it hit me:

Is this really what we get up for in the morning?

When we expect to gain learning but only turning

into a point earning, score monitoring, medal striving individuals

with little to no understanding of the real meaning of success

That success comes if you’re the best

at a test out of the rest but in reality the

guy two seats away from you only guessed

and he’s proclaimed the best

While you’re sitting there all stressed

after studying for the test

that only blessed you with second best

Now tell me? Does that mean you’re far from success?

Of course not!

But every year students are given

report cards that are

focused on defining

their abilities on how

to find x or memorize facts

that soon they’ll forget

Leading some of us into thinking that

grades sinking means binge drinking

slowly followed by the future shrinking

Cause admittedly,

Some of us already gave up

because of the way were trained

To all be the same

Forced to walk in one lane

as they slowly drain

originality from our brain!

That was supposed

to let us attain

the true gains in life

Now see, this systematic instruction

is probably not gonna to change

anytime soon

But you’re allowed to go out of tune

and not let your collection of failed

tests label success and

mess with the rest of what’s ahead

And to be honest, I don’t care about my grades

cause every report card I own says I am not

“good enough” to do this or to be that

When in the first place I wasn’t

meant to do things that are limited to what

that card says I need to do in order to achieve

I think knowing that already won me

thousands of victories

‘Cause we are worth more than just numbers.