They Taught Us Everything Except How To Live

They said school would prepare us for life, but I think they meant it would prepare us to endure it.

We spent years memorizing the mitochondria, the Pythagorean theorem, the causes of wars we never started, but no one ever told us how to pay rent, how to find purpose, how to love ourselves when everything feels like a race we’re losing.

They taught us to show up on time, stay quiet, follow rules. They never taught us how to ask why those rules exist, or what happens when they stop making sense.

We learned how to take tests, not how to think. How to meet deadlines, not how to make meaning. How to fake stability when we’re falling apart inside.

And when we finally stepped out, diplomas in hand, everyone acted surprised that we didn’t know how to be people. That we were anxious, lost, burnt out before we even began.

But maybe that was the point. Maybe the system isn’t broken. Maybe it’s working exactly as designed. Creating workers, not thinkers. Dependents, not dreamers.

They told us school was supposed to build our future. But most days, it just feels like it stole our childhood.

Yupppers that’s it. That’s the post.