School’s out for (summer? Ever?) And the kids
Are running wild. There’s no more crowd control.
No seating plans, no streaming. What we did
To them was point them at a single goal:
“GCSEs. A-levels. They’re your sole
Objective. They’re the reason that you’re here!”
By focusing on testing them we stole
Their love of learning. Filled them all with fear.
But now school’s out. There’s no exams this year.
The virus killed our metric for success
The kids are running wild and we should fear
Their anger, we who got them in this mess.
Our education system, now, is burning
Here comes the test: can we, at last, start learning?
Tom Juniper Poetry 