When did common become our goal
With basic standards as what we extol
With teachers reduced to a scripted role?

When did students all read the same page
And students advance according to age
As if minds grow best inside a cage?

We flattened the curve so all could succeed
Ignoring we grow at various speeds
Neglecting the nuance of each learner’s needs

We’re training soldiers instead of captains
If we don’t train leaders, 
what could possibly happen?
We need to reverse direction; 
this trend we must flatten

Engagement starts when students choose
And use their voice, not someone else’s rules
Innovation begins by breaking
this
monotonous
pattern.

Lament

A lament, which is the form I chose for Mandating Mundane, is one of the oldest forms of poetry. It gives voice to grief, loss, or injustice. Laments do not always offer solutions. Instead, they express what hurts and ask us to notice what has been broken or forgotten.

Some of the most powerful laments in poetry include W. H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”, which captures personal grief with precision, and William Dunbar’s Lament for the Makers, translated by David Ferry here, which honors lost poets through steady repetition. These poems show how lament can be both emotional and enduring.