In these hard times <br />Of unreported unemployed voices <br />Of ignored college graduates <br />Of desperate youth <br />As well as desperate old <br />In these times <br />Education is overlooked <br />Pale profit wins over ethics <br />Our youth gets pushed further <br />Further away from their hard earned achievements <br />Further away from their intricate dreams <br />In these times <br />Fresh bread is left behind to turn into mold <br />Experience overtakes knowledge <br />Education becomes a burden <br />The educated are the punished <br />When they should be awarded <br />Education is no longer counted as experience <br />Our interactions with one another <br />Is no longer experience <br />They become experience (in the eyes of employers) by the documentation of a paycheck <br />To be qualified <br />We must be paid to interact with each other <br />We must be paid to use our knowledge <br />We must be paid to develop our skills <br />When in reality <br />We pay for our education ourselves <br />And in our education in which we pay <br />We interact and learn from others without demanding to be paid <br />In the eyes of the employer <br />Education is not experience <br />Eight years of college and achieving a P.H.D. <br />Is no longer experience <br />What employers don't realize is... <br />Education is a full-time job <br />A full time job that we do not get paid for <br />Education doesn't employ us <br />We employ education for ourselves <br />Yet...education is still not experience <br />When will they open their eyes and enlighten their minds? <br />Education should never have to come last <br />But should always come first <br />No wonder we are behind<br /><br />Diana Poems<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hard-times-from-michigan/
