Listen And You Shall Hear Poem by Les Farmer

Listen my students and you shall hear,
Everything you need to know,
Open your books to page twenty four,
Do the even number questions,
One through seventy four,
When you are through,
Turn to page two hundred and twenty-two,
You can answer the first eleven questions,
Yes, I think that will do!
If you have any questions,
Please don't bother me,
You see I will be busy,
Right over there,
We have a game to prepare for,
So leave me alone,
Remember this is important,
Because I told you so!
Aren't you glad that you came today.
Now, class, let me snap my fingers!
When I do this you get to work!
Remember don't act like a jerk.

Her fingers went snap,
A hush fell on the group,
The students pulled out their books,
And began to go work.

They answered their questions,
And worked very hard,
Before long the bell had rung.

The class got up and another came in,
This time the teacher went up and front
And was just about to begin.

Before she started,
A girl in the back,
Shirley was her name,
And she threw her hair back.

Shirley simply asked, ' Why do we have to do that? '

The teacher grunted and looked around.
She threw her book to the ground.
She yelled, ' That simply won't do! '

She then told the class, ' This is learning, I'm the boss, it is simple as that.'

Shirley then asked, ' Ms. Drew, what are we learning by just copying out of books, I really want to learn and this won't do'

The teacher reached down and wrote up a slip, she sent Shirley to the office and said, ' The principal will take care of you my young lady. He will teach you manners! '

The class settled down and got to work.
The problem here, is who really was the jerk?

When we judge our schools with test scores and grades, this is the type of learning our students get everyday.

Just think, maybe our tests are failing our nation,
We can't even figure out what our enemy knows,
To attack a super power, you don't do it with any army,
You attack it at the very core,
You prepare the people to think alike, ]
Then you create fear and fright.

Now, add to this mix,
This little fix,
The government in the 1930's began to back up our money.

Now, our enemy realizes that best way to attack the United States is to attack our economy.

They have not the benefits of our books,
They have their knowledge from learning,
What did we get?