Andrew Delapruch | + Follow Poet |
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Getting Rid of Words To Breed Good Little Citizens

we are living in an age when people would rather cover 
their ass than think about what they say,
when people would rather try to censor the way we speak
than look at the reasons that we say the things that we
do &
kids are getting the full beating treatment,
as schools in nyc are proposing a new ban of words
which appear on standardized tests,
tests which like all methods of evaluation
are skewed by those who create them,
representing the views & the discrepancies of the
creators,
so of course,
the blame needs to be removed from those who insist upon
dragging children through the mundane & futile assessments 
neath’ the guise of ceasing the 
“upsetting” of the kids.

in this age of irresponsibility,
of the quickest way to fix our frustrations,
“precautions” are being taken, 
in order to mold kids into good little law abiding citizens---
rather than to allow them to think for themselves,
rather than to prepare them for the real & horrible world
in which they are about to be thrown into,
an attempt is being made to 
censor them,
keeping them from having to see words like “evolution” or
“poverty,” 
“terrorism,” 
“homelessness” or
“catastrophes” &
what kind of bubble do the test-makers think these kids are 
going to be able to live in?
what insane parents sitting on the boards think that 
pulling more words from tests, 
will do anything but draw more attention to those words?
what kind of subliminal mind**** newspeak is this?

teachers sound as if they are going further than before
to try & make kids 
who will never say anything offensive
because they will hardly ever speak their mind &
in doing so, they’ll be the best damn americans that
our tax dollars can buy---
start em’ when they’re young &
instead of letting them learn about life through experience,
try to avoid it
whenever possible.

Copyright © Andrew Delapruch | Year Posted 2012

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