Every time I tell people that I hate school, I get asked the same question.

“How can you hate school so much when you say you like to learn?”

It is pretty simple actually. Those two are not the same thing. Not the same thing at all.

I know I am not the only one. I know that there are plenty of other people out there who think the same way. Learning is great. Learning is marvelous. Learning is fun. School is not.

Why is this so? You learn in school; at least, you’re supposed to learn in school. Then why is it that I know so many people who hate going to school every day but find such joy in learning new things? It is because school is not about learning anymore. School is not somewhere you go to excite your love of learning and discovery. These days, school is somewhere you go so that the education system can cram facts and useless knowledge in your head and see how well you can memorize. School is somewhere you go so that they can gauge how well you can take a test. School is forced, and you have to get up at six in the morning for it and endure it for seven hours. School is being judged for what you wear and where you go on vacation and how much money your parents have and who your friends are. School is where you get stressed out because of deadlines and grade point averages and scholarships. School is where the passion to learn goes to die.

I do not like school. I like learning. I like going new places and discovering a whole new culture and immersing myself in it. I like meeting new people and hearing about their lives and the way they live and the stories they have to tell. I like making mistakes and having someone guide me through what I did wrong instead of telling me that I am going to fail. I like reading fiction from other times and other places and throwing myself into an entirely new world. I like figuring out for myself how the world works. I like discovery, and I like exploration. I like engaging, and I like traveling. I do not like school. I like learning.

School, I think, can even be bad for you. In school, you are taught according to a prescribed curriculum and then tested on what you are supposed to have learned. Learning is supposed to be about exploring what ignites your passion and sparks your interests. Formal schooling completely tramples on that idea. School takes your love of learning and squashes it under the weight of all the pressures. It really is no wonder that kids have come to hate learning altogether. When you associate learning with school, how can you not?

I would like to say we should do away with the current system altogether, but I know it is impractical to wish for a complete do over. I also do not think it is possible to get enough support for such a movement. There are some things we can do though. I know we cannot remove tests and GPA's entirely, but should we not at least make it so that those things do not dictate the rest of your life? School could also stand to cater more to student interest instead of having such a strict curriculum. Even if it can never be perfect, we can at least make it so that students do not dread getting up in the morning.