The Many Flaws in this World's Education System

For 12 years now I have been emotionally drained by unwillingly partaking in the governments version of what they call an "education system". It's almost humorous to me that we call it an education system, because that would imply that we are learning. If learning means sitting in a classroom for 6 or more hours a day blankly staring at a teacher drain on for hours on end about something we do not even see a point in learning about, then yeah I guess we're learning. But if you consider learning as expanding our knowledge and opening our mind to what the world offers us in a genuinely beneficial way, then there is no doubt that we are far from what our education system should be. I'm not saying that what we are learning about isn't important, because for the most part, it is. But they are not teaching us why we are learning; for the bigger picture. They teach us that a letter grade defines who we are as human beings and therefore we should memorize words on a paper until we are mentally exhausted only for the aspiration of getting a grade that won't make us resent ourselves. And honestly, teachers are senseless if they don't see that memorizing does not equal learning. Half the time, we don't even know what we are memorizing. We don't try to understand the information, because we do not care. It's as simple as that. We do not care, and we certainly do not have the time to want to care because we are constantly berated with homework, and tests, and assignments to the point where we barely have time to breathe. We don't have time to be teenagers, and they wonder why we feel as though we have grown up already. We're busier now than most adults are, so yeah, I'm going to talk to my friends in class; because when else will I get the chance? We work our asses off in school till our energy is depleted from our body, only to be sent home with homework and studying that will keep us awake with anxiety and panic over what might happen if we don't do it, which keeps the cycle continuing to the next day with 4 hours of sleep under our belts only to be an acceptable member to society- because in this world, if you can't prove yourself with a fancy diploma then you really aren't shit. The reality of it is, that we are way too young to be this worn out. We are way too young to hate ourselves this much for the amount of failures school has set us up for. We are way too young to fear the system that has worked us til we're no longer kids anymore, but merely puppets following this generations unrealistic expectations that quickly age our souls. We are kids. We are kids, and it is our job to use this time to be young and naive and ask questions and ponder the world and wander without concern of what life will bring us 10 years from now. This time for us is short, and we must use it to educate ourselves- not have the system tell us what to learn and what to do every second, but we must learn to be individuals to educate ourselves with nothing but full beating hearts and curiosity for the beautiful world we live in... School has taught us the opposite. It has taught us a set of guidelines to follow and obey and how to live and by learning only this for our entire lives, it has become embedded in our minds as a normality, when it is not. We must let the adolescents explore their adolescence, for that is how opinions are made and change can be seen. School is a gift, just not the way it is done now. Maybe the suicide rate for teens wouldn't be so high if teachers taught their students that a grade does not determine your whole life, and that it is okay to fail. Maybe the majority of kids these days wouldn't have been diagnosed with ADD if we didn't force them to sit still and keep quiet for hours and hours so they can stare at a whiteboard and try to retain unnecessary information. Maybe more kids would vote when they turned 18 if we were just simply taught that we have a say and our voice matters and we have the power to make a change. Maybe kids wouldn't drop out of school if they weren't told they're not good enough by one degrading report card.