Abulia

The problem with education,
One professor of dead wood said,
Isn’t the training or teaching.

It’s a self-selection problem—
The kinds of people who study,
The kinds of people drawn to teach.

You believe med schools and law schools
Make doctors and lawyers that way?
Think of who wants to be a cop,

Or of who wants to teach college
To escape from a cubicle
They clock into every damn day.

Their professions select them
By appealing to sloth or greed,
To god complexes, violent dreams.

You want to find a good mentor?
Good luck finding someone like me,
Someone who’s lost the will to teach.

He laughed and shook his hoary head.
Forget what I just said. I’m not
That jaded. But his eyes looked dead.