The public schooling system has clearly failed us as it stifles critical thinking in favor of automation and memorization. This is called rote learning, and it is how the majority of public schools in America operate. There is a set curriculum by the state, and it is drilled into the minds of “students” through repetition and regurgitation. This is not education in the slightest. This is what I would call “artificial learning,” or brainwashing. Instead of being “taught” actual life skills, children are treated as machines and pumped full of useless information. This entire system is deplorable.

It pushes an envelope of absolutist careerism and college-worship, indoctrinating the minds of adolescents with the false mantra that they will never amount to anything in life without a college degree or a 9-5 job. Everyone must be a slave to the daily routine. Dissent is made impossible. Thinking outside the box is shunned. Where have we gone? This, my friends, is why the typical US adult is less intelligent than the average human. And don’t even get me started on standardized tests.

It is my opinion that the ability to reason is the pinnacle of human achievement. And the, “This is the way it is and you must regurgitate it back to us on a standardized test” mentality is the antithesis of that. No one is concerned about actual knowledge these days, it’s all about test scores and having a high average. If it doesn’t say it in the lesson plans, it doesn’t exist.

Students self-segregate themselves into different sects, and within most high schools, the athletic well-dressed elitist prep crowd is always on top. The drama-filled boyfriend-girlfriend culture flourishes in this environment and anyone who doesn’t conform to its framework is cast out and shunned. Everyone is obsessed with who’s dating who and where the next party is. For most adolescents, high school is merely a vehicle for this type of behavior. None of them actually value knowledge.

And people still can’t seem to figure out why there are so many teen suicides and school shootings. In fact, if you actually listened to what these people had to say for themselves then perhaps you would have your answer. But no, instead we choose scapegoats like Marilyn Manson and video games.

I hate institutionalized public schooling. It simply is not worth the drama and the deception involved.