Cinder block walls
And cold tile floors
White ceiling tiles
And small windows on doors
The lights are too bright
And sometimes they flicker
The desks, they rock and sag
And are covered with doodles
Of both good and bad
But the irony of it all
Is that this is where we learn
Where our minds are supposed to grow
The place that is so defining
Is really just confining
They put us in this box
And contain us with white walls
They say that knowledge is to empower us
But the system just overpowers us
So they wonder why we want to escape
And question us when we fail
They blame it on us
Saying we just aren't smart enough
Saying that the system could never be flawed
And they are right in a way
Because the system isn't flawed
But instead it's the system itself that's the flaw
It compressed the minds that could cure cancer
It forces the next Picasso to color inside the lines
And the next great writer is told not to imagine
The great flaw is not in us and our minds
That's only a minor part
But instead the flaw is in the system that is controlling our young minds
Wrote this in chemistry class today
