When I left school,
30 years ago today,
I left school for good.
I left learning by rote behind,
For those who might have use of it,
Whose sight would improve with it,
Whose minds were immune to anything else.
I left the tight strictures of teaching alone,
Along with claustrophobic classrooms,
Governmental educational tampering
And the pampered and hampered
Who in equal measure
Made a pleasurable experience
Unbearable and who carefully
Wandered through their years in school
With their heads down as they knew
That grades didn’t matter
As Daddy had a job waiting regardless,
And this was the only message
That has ever stayed with me
From institutional grooming
In this country:
It’s who not what you know,
And if, like me,
You didn’t know anybody,
And your family wasn’t connected,
Then you had better
Get the hell out
As quickly as possible,
And get good
At studying
Your own road.
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