What's left

What's left

 

 

 

they line up for diplomas

shake a hand, smile

retreat down steps

 

 

             (wondering how they ascended)

 

books, papers, tests find their scope

in a vacant lens

it's a document that proves manipulation

and being manipulated is a mind's foregone conclusion

 

meaning is lost in grade point averages

and copying turned down and handed down rhetoric

and rhetorical questions,

already answered rather than explored

 

who's next in line,

for the handshake,

the plea for an earthquake

to shake it all up into real understanding

 

education is integration of what matters

with what flatters prospective employers

 

but who are we after all is said and done?

mimics, clones, drones

doing what the others do

how they do

and why they do

 

tear it up,

blow it up

rend it, don't defend it

 

jump out of the mode

careless of their code

and speak for yourself---

 

or just trip back down the steps

with that meaningless parchment

 

reflecting

intellect with little heart,

and barely a soul to 

 

                                 fall back on.

 

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

6/24/16

Reviews

[redzone]

YES!!! even when I got my diploma way back when... there was no heart and soul and certain no education in the education... critical thinking was never a part of education... it is funny but not in a good way, one of my relatives asked my after graduation what I thought of college and my degree (which by the way along with $2.50 will only buy me a cup of coffee), I didn't at the time realize how accurate I was but I replied, "s**t I got an education in spite of going to college"...

anyway, you nailed the reason why so many people are just plain ignorant, a shame too since what do they say, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste".... so step up shake hands and say thank you for the ignorance!!! and don't forget to smile for the cameras...

redzone

[jacob erin-cilberto]

it makes me try twice as hard to teach my students to think outside the box and question what they are told.

"we don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom"

thank you for your words, my friend.

j.

[W.k.kortas]

Was it Dennis Hopper who said "There ain't nothin' in books, man"? That's overstatement, but what you've laid out here is a point well-taken, that there is knowledge and then there's knowledge. As is only fit, this is no academic set piece--it's got all the blood and sinew that the piece calls for. Fine, fine stuff.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, W.k.
j.

[V]

I think you have managed to write down poetically what I've been thinking for so long. There's not much to add, your poem speaks for itself, and my/ourselves. The ending is poignant yet with a soft layer, an airbag that leaves it light and flowing to read yet with a notion of heaviness. Well observed and elaborated.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Vanessa...

j.

[V]

You're welcome.