Learn not think

Too well I do remember
those drab and dreary walls
adolescent compelled to conform,
skills of abstract gained
a callow youth procured
schooled to learn not think

Study, you must study
to get ahead in life
so go the dreary monologues,
the apt pupil sits inside
outside real life marches by
schooled to learn not think

Chasing grades like rabid dogs
yet like a caged animal
life's notions confined to abstract,
a youth concealed in prose of beige
is told he's ready for the world
schooled to learn not think

With the kill cometh the spoils
youth bequeathed with fools gold
the cage is open, it's time to run,
entitlement bears its millstone
decadence discovered in the soul
schooled to learn not think.