School Ghosts: Some thoughts about academic necropoli

Many schools are ghost-ridden
with echoes of muffled screams

In their barren walls you'll find
teachers staring vacantly

With sarcasm some inquire
"Is intellectual torture what you need?"

Others laugh cryptically,
"Forget about any intellect crap –
Regulations are what you must heed."

Sauntering across creaky corridors
& musty, rotting floors
shadows of student-ghosts appear
then vanish under the doors.

Gazing at them, I wonder
"Why do so many schools have
nightmares in such abundant supply?"

Then I remember zombies make
perfect citizens – isn't what why
schools are cemeteries in disguise?

Melissa:	(shuddering) This talk is morbid.
Satoru:	Well, it's amazing how intellectually dead some schools are.
Tim:	Isn't that what authorities want?
Satoru:	I'm not sure . . . without curiosity and a willingness to challenge old beliefs, both people and institutions fossilize.
Melissa:	Fossilized thoughts – isn't that the stuff of civilization?
Liao:	It seems there's an optimum balance between open awareness and pre-programmed belief . . . it may be inefficient to question everything – but if we rely too much on pre-programmed information, we're not so different from reptiles.
Tim:	Perhaps, but most schools program kids for passivity. In the long run, that's not merely ghastly – it's ghostly.