The Education System Was Never Broken — It Was Built This Way
It’s easy to believe the education system just needs a little fixing. Better test scores. New textbooks. A few more counselors in every school.
But the truth is harder to face: the system isn’t broken.
It’s working exactly as it was designed to, to keep people obedient, dependent, disconnected from their power, and unsure of what they’re truly capable of. Especially those who question, imagine, or don’t easily fit into the mold.
And that’s why dismantling it isn’t dangerous.
It’s the most necessary thing we can do.
Designed for Obedience, Not Liberation
From the way the classroom is arranged, to the sound of a bell marking every transition, the traditional education system mirrors a factory, not a place of growth or freedom.
We train children to ask for permission to speak.
To be quiet, follow rules, and repeat what they’re told.
To believe their value lives in grades and test scores.
Most schools aren’t teaching children to think for themselves, they’re teaching them how to follow directions, stay in line, and avoid making too much noise.
And that’s not education. That’s conditioning.
Who Gets Left Behind and Why
The system doesn’t just fail people.
It was never meant to serve everyone in the first place.
Students from under-resourced neighborhoods walk into buildings with outdated materials, over-policed hallways, and underpaid teachers stretched beyond their limits.
They learn history that doesn’t include them.
They’re judged faster, punished harder, and given fewer chances to just be kids.
We call it gifted when they’re quiet and quick.
We call it trouble when they ask too many questions.
And the weight of being misunderstood, over and over follows them into adulthood as quiet shame.
This isn’t an accident.
It’s the result of a system built to sort, control, and suppress.
Dismantling Isn’t Dangerous, It’s Necessary
People get nervous when you say the system needs to be torn down.
They imagine everything falling apart. Total disorder. Children with no direction.
But what’s truly dangerous is what we’re allowing to continue:
A model that stifles potential and teaches kids how to conform instead of how to live.
Dismantling the system doesn’t mean throwing out every teacher or every school building.
It means questioning who gets to decide what learning looks like and why.
It means releasing the grip of standardized everything and making space for humanity, culture, and truth.
It means freeing the minds and hearts of the next generation from cages we’ve convinced ourselves are “normal.”
What a Liberating Education Could Look Like
Imagine learning spaces rooted in curiosity, culture, and community.
Where students are taught how to think, not what to think.
Where emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and communication are just as important as math and science.
Where students grow food, build things with their hands, study the land they live on, and learn how to solve problems that actually exist in their neighborhoods.
Where art and music aren’t electives, they’re core.
Where history tells the truth, all of it.
Where learning is tied to healing, not control.
Where every child is taught this truth:
You were born with something the world needs. Let’s figure out what it is.
Closing Reflection
Dismantling a system this big doesn’t happen overnight.
But the courage to question it? That can begin today.
Because education should feel like freedom, not limitation.
It should wake up the soul, not just check off a box.
It should help us become more human, not more obedient.
And anything that doesn’t do that, doesn’t deserve to stay.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself:
What did school teach me to suppress, and what might have bloomed if I’d been taught to trust myself instead?