Shuffled through, mingled voices, cattle

Not even a name, not even a face, only a body

Not boys, not girls, not women, not men.

Not even students.

We are just a meager obstacle to the next paycheck

Students need a teacher who can respect them

A teacher that can respect themselves and their integrity

Enough to engage us.

We need to be shown that we can learn

We need to be taught that we are more

We need to be told that we can ascend

The Public Education System has done nothing for us

It has entrenched us in class unconsciousness

Waving meaningless carrots in front of our faces

Victims of Mr. Rogers

We can't do anything with what we've "learned"

We are moved along the assembly line,

Apathetic teacher after apathetic teacher

Carelessly “adding” another piece to our “education”

When the day is done, and Bobby’s already dropped out,

We are left knowing little more than the day we were first placed on the line in the factory

We are left with a future that is bleak, and no skills

We are left in our ghettoes with our ignorance

Tupac was too optimistic when he said that a rose could grow from concrete

Because in these streets, the blood runs deep and fills in the cracks of our lives

The blood of children forced to waste thirteen years of their life

In a place that didn’t give a damn for them

All it did was make them feel even less special

NEA, you are the devil.

Please Mr. Doe

We just want you to care

And be the role model to us kids that don’t have a father

Please Mrs. Doe

We just want you to be there

And teach us what you know, at least pretend we matter