17. What They Will Not Teach You

(Note: Today is the last day of my school semester and therefore the day I finished my first year of college. Somewhat in honor of this fact, I will share a poem I wrote that pertains at school. While most of it sounds like it's aimed at high school students, I suspect it is also applicable to college students, or students of any age who are still trying to learn how life works.)


 

Go to school.

Do the work.

Get the best grades you can.

But remember this:

They won’t teach you how to feel.

They won’t teach you how to think.

They won’t teach you how to love

or how to hate or what to

do when the need to do either strikes.

They won’t teach you how to be

friends with anybody,

they won’t teach you how to react when

your parents are angry and

there’s nothing you can do,

and they won’t teach you how to react

when you’re angry and there’s nothing you can do

They won’t teach you what passion

or fire

or joy

or care

or love

are.

And they won’t teach you

how or why to believe in anything,

and they won’t teach you

how to stand up for it,

and they won’t teach you

that sometimes it’s right to cling

desperately to something – it could

be anything, even if it’s something

terribly wrong – when there’s no

other air to breathe.

You’ll get a basic idea of

how the world works, and you’ll

pick up a thing or two

worth knowing

but you won’t learn about the things that matter.

You have to go out and live to do that.