Thirteen Words a Day (And a Whole Childhood Gone)

Thirteen Words a Day (And a Whole Childhood Gone)

▶ I trained thousands to memorize 4800 GRE words a day.

Then my son came home and said:

“Thirteen words, Baba.”

I nearly passed out on the linoleum.

I taught minds to fly, burned limits to dust,

Built learning machines powered by trust.

Twelve hours, nine loops, no cries, no screams—

Just kids on fire, chasing dreams.

Now my son gets praised for “trying his best,”

While learning less than a checkout guest.

You call it growth, I call it decay—

Thirteen words? That’s child’s play.

Thirteen words and a childhood gone,

Dreams in detention, bell marches on.

Thirteen words and a sticker prize,

While the spark in his soul slowly dies.

Thirteen loops — that’s what I gave.

I lit up minds they said couldn’t be saved.

You teach like it’s 1899—

We pump like Mozart online.

You spent 40 minutes on how to spell "cat,"

I taught nuance in lexical combat.

You call it “paced,” I call it “wasted,”

Neural windows — you erased it.

I built Jedi in months, no joke,

You hand out worksheets and make kids choke.

"Thirteen is plenty," you say today—

But dopamine’s dead halfway.

“We don’t want to overwhelm…” — But you underwhelm.

“We meet them where they are…” — Then forget where they could be.

“They’re not ready…” — They’ve been waiting since you gave them cartoons for chemistry, chemistry, chemistry.

Oh! Thirteen words — but who counts the cost?

Each one’s a neuron silently lost.

Thirteen loops — how we learn,

Turn up the beat, let the cortex burn.

NeuraPump’s no trend — it’s the spark,

That your worksheet couldn’t mark.

This ain’t school — this is soul CPR,

From Beijing rooftops to Zanzibar.

You chip rats and call it “Neuralink,”

But forget that joy makes humans think.

You scan cortex, kids yawn bored,

We sing math — they beg for more.

Not rebel — just overdue rage,

Against a system stuck in a chalkboard cage.

You called me wild, intense, insane—

I call you thirteen — and that’s your brain.

Thirteen words — a universe missed,

While you teach like futures don’t exist.

We built songs to crack time’s lock,

Sing it 60 times — let learning rock.

Thirteen can’t build stars — we train them.

Not grade-chasers — we rename them.

So let the world hear every child shout:

“NeuraPump me in — or count me out!”