American schools real purpose is to conform children to think identically.
             My most fulfilling educational experience happened when I was 600 miles away from school. My enlightenment occurred during a school sponsored trip to Washington, D.C. When I left for D.C., I was as immature and self-centered as any thirteen-year-old. However, over the next three days, I left childhood and dove into adolescence. Viewing such a diverse city gave me a new perspective on life. I saw homeless and businessmen walking the streets together. I visited Arlington Cemetery and the Vietnam Memorial and began to understand the lengths to which people will go for what they believe. At the Holocaust Museum, I got a glimpse of what it meant to suffer. I no longer saw the world only as it personally affected me. I began to understand the "bigger picture." I will never forget the education I received May 6-9, 1999. Throughout my years in the classroom, I never learned things as valuable as I did in Washington, D.C. American schools do not offer children a real education. Their real purpose is to conform children to think identically.
             School systems drag students through thirteen years of schooling. A student will spend more than 16,000 hours in school from kindergarten through 12th grade. That is a very large chunk of someone's life to squander, especially for the young. During this time, children are confined to a narrow group of peers their own age and subject to strict regimentation. Why do we do this? Why do we take 16,000 hours out of childhood? According to John Gatto, "They (students) wanted to be doing something real, not sitting around." Teachers are schooling children only to become average students and ignore their full potential. Children are being cheated out of a "real education." H.L. Mencken noted this back in 1924 saying, "The aim of public education is not to fill the young of the specie
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