When I cleaned out my closet back home during my past break, the overwhelming majority of what I found was not sweet memories, photos, souvenirs, or other artifacts from my youth. No, my closet was absolutely packed with papers: worksheets, essays, fact sheets, and more. After a quick skim through the pile, I threw it all away. With that quick action, I erased all of my high school accomplishments. And I thought nothing of it.

Why did I hate high school? Because it was so utterly, tragically meaningless. This meant two things: first, that it discouraged questioning, innovating, or creating, and second, that is hid from young people their ability to do great things now.

As we filled out our busywork, we were taught a lesson in subservience to a massive metanarrative about society’s linear path. In truth, a lot of people struggle in high school not because they lack intelligence but because they recognize that so much of its academics mean nothing in and of themselves within the current system. They point to a test score, which points to college, which points to a job. It did not ask us to look at the world with wonder or, perhaps, as a place that may need some change.

Instead, it prepared us for a test designed to ensure we all thought in the way which would be ideal for work. While it included outlets within the arts- though even these are in danger- the main purpose of high school was not to challenge us to create something new or examine things in new ways.

Even when it did suggest that we could become whatever we wanted, all agency is, for students, presented as an option for the future. Our learning is presented as a means to some future end. Why can’t empowerment exist right now, in this moment? A better education system would provide students with the opportunity to engage in their communities immediately, even as part of the curriculum. Learning need not occur within a classroom; students could use lessons to solve problems in their communities or create art to spread awareness.

High school didn’t have to be so meaningless. I hated it because after filling out assignment after assignment, taking "Hard Classes" that would look good rather than those that would truly challenge me at my core, and pursuing nothing but points, a grade, and a solid resume, I had failed to do or accomplish anything.

I had words to put on an application, but who was I as a human being? What was my place in the world? What did this all mean in terms of the community? What could I do right now to make things better? If anything, school instead taught me how to sit in my seat and do whatever I was told, without questioning why I was doing it. Really, I had been taught a grand lesson in how to go through the motions without any complex growth.

Stay in school, kids. It’s important to get an education. Real learning can occur there, but you need to 1) Challenge the school to incorporate programs that empower students in the here and now, 2) Try to learn in spite of the ridiculous torrent of busywork, even if that learning has to take place totally separate from class, 3) Instead of point chasing, examine how your class lessons and assignments could help you grow as a person or community, and 4) Create. Innovate. Live. You’re not a future person; you’re not an application; you’re a person right now. You have power right now.

And finally, to all you wonderful future teachers: You have one of the most important jobs in the world. Never forget that you can empower students to do. It will be so easy to get lost in core requirements and tests and the day-to-day, but you are all amazing people who are so passionate about the well-being of not only individual kids, but the future of our society. Never forget that, at its core, your job is not just about teaching lessons but about sparking a light within each child.