What if a person is supposed to be a virtuoso or an influential scientist or an influential poet? And what if middle school and high school crush it out of them. What if the demand for compliance to a norm and the obsession with competitive sports and the active shooter drills and the absolute refusal to do anything about constant bullying squeeze the beauty out of that child? It has been many decades since we set this system up and it’s past time we change it. Maybe school should focus on what the children need from us instead of what we need from the children.