Tonight I told my student to take her fifth grade standardized test and shove it up America's pompous keep-up-with-the-workaholic-Jonses-who-have-no-family-life-because-mom-and-dad-are-always-working ass. This made some light shine in her eye. While her mother agreed that tests are just a bunch of silly sillies, we both (madre and I) had to make some case for why she should give a gosh darn about it. The only reason we could think of is that doing well on standardized tests means that you've somehow conquered the challenge set forth by The Man. But she wasn't buying. What else was I supposed to say? Welcome to the real world, Kiddo. Ten years from now you'll thank your lucky stars that you knew how to fill in the right bubbles...The truth is that thinking inside the box does help in some situations. Unless you're REALLY rich and successful it's tough to be a healthy eccentric in this land cuz most people want to hang with the normies...

Just for today, I am so freakin' cynical.