A Prison in Disguise - By: Thuritha Satheeskumar

I hate this place, it’s a prison in disguise.

They say school is for learning,

but is it really?

Because I walk in with dread,

not curiosity.

I dread each morning, the alarm’s cruel ring,

Dragged from my bed like a puppet on string.

I stare at clocks like bars on a cell,

Counting down minutes of this daily hell.

Why have I been trapped in this godforsaken system since I was five,

just to be told my future’s doomed

if I mess up before I’m twenty two.

No school, no job, no future,

you’re a failure, they all chant.

But no one teaches us how to live,

just how to panic over a late assignment.

If our brains don’t fully develop until 25,

why are we, at half that age,

forced to decide

what we’ll do for the rest of our lives?

A place meant to guide, to help us grow,

But all it teaches us is “don’t be slow.”

Keep up, shut up, follow the line,

and maybe, just maybe, you’ll turn out fine.

They hand us tests instead of time,

rubrics instead of reasons,

and expect us to bloom

in the deadest of seasons.

But I’m not thriving, I’m surviving.

I’m not learning, I’m memorizing.

I’m not living, I’m complying.

And I’m so, so tired of trying.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

The poem explores how the school system often feels like a prison. It mentions how students constantly feel drained, overworked, and put under stress, especially when we’re still too young to know who we are or what we want to do with our lives. The poem also brings attention to how unfair it is to expect teenagers to make life changing decisions while our brains are still developing.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

I wrote this poem out of pent up frustration with the repetitive, draining cycle of school, it’s a constant cycle: wake up, go to school, study, hand in assignments, study for tests, be worried about pop quizzes, sleep, and repeat. Do this for 10 months straight, and rest for only 2, it’s like being stuck in a loop running on adrenaline.

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I chose to write this poem because I wanted to express how school really feels for many students. It’s not always a supportive or encouraging place, sometimes it feels more like a system that prioritizes performance over people. I wanted give a voice to the stress, pressure, and burnout that many students carry.