A Desperate Request

School is the place that creativity goes to die. Dramatic? Yes, of course it is. But it is most definitely, above all things, TRUE.
When you begin school, you get a new and sparkly teacher with rosy cheeks and an imagination full of rainbows and sunshine. You get to read stories full of adventure and hope. You go to field trips where they let you participate in something that can only be described as magical. You get to color huge papers with your own two hands that have vibrant shades on each finger. You get to dress up and go to worlds unknown or times untraveled. But when you grow older, they swap your teacher for an old woman with narrow eyes and a permanent frown. They assign you to papers longer than most should be about things that bore you to tears. They want you to learn useless facts you'll never use in life, and when you find a dream you wish to pursue, they pass it off as hogwash and tomfoolery. Your books no longer consist of fairies and pirates and strange planets, but instead long-winded fiction coated in deep political meanings. You have to write essays in one color: BLACK. No longer in your own hand, but by a time-consuming computer. History of hate and war is bound tightly together in a large, small print text book that is older than your parents. Your field trips are to places that reek of dust and unhappiness as you follow the strict "No Touch" rule and meander through hallways full of boring art that means nothing to you.
School is so close to Nazism nowadays. They fill your head with information and opinions that are far from your own, but promise to destroy your future if you don't participate in their standards of education. They take away the things that you love--the things that you ARE. You're not allowed to listen to your iPod in class. Not even the radio. You can't doodle in the margins of your homework. No socializing with others around you.

School is the place where creativity goes to die. But we can change that. Promise me that this year, you'll break a few rules. Laugh in class. Doodle. Slip your iPod beneath your hoodie. Pass notes. Don't let them tell you who to be. Learn and be respectful, but don't lose yourself.

Also, bring a box of crayons to class. Bring color into the ominous grey.