Deadlines

The biggest mistake that any of us ever made was deciding that school was synonymous with having an education. We assume that four-walled, poster-covered classrooms will be the golden path that’ll lead us straight into the arms of success, open our minds until the depths of our knowledge twinkle in our eyes. We all fall into the trap of sleepless nights, bottomless cups of coffee and a headache that feels as if it will never end. We spend years inhaling dates, facts, and formulas to later spit out the information onto a page you hope never to see again to in turn receive a page that was supposed to make it all worth it – the red ribbon wrapped certificate you are congratulated with at graduation. Is that what you were waiting for?

Because school is aching shoulders from a backpack that gets heavier with every tear-stained textbook you wish you could understand. School is the ink scribbles onto the pages of an agenda that begs you to stop writing, pleads that it has no more room to remind you of new assignments, but they keep coming anyway. School is the glass-eyed look that your teacher gives you at the mere mention of too much work due. Manage your time better, they say without the slightest hint of sympathy. School is a week in which each exam looms like an ominous grey cloud over your head, all those projects with deadlines that feel impossible to meet, the essays you rewrite a thousand times to add a + next to that B to feel just a little bit better about yourself. 

Because at the end of the day, all the deep purple bags under your eyes, all the tears that tattooed your cheeks, all the teeth bearing and fist tightening comes down to that one letter. One letter that claims to define you, has the power to dictate your future. And, if it isn’t good enough, neither are you. You never have been, and you never will be. Because that’s what school is. Now tell me, what happened to the education?