September is a beautiful month and I hate what schooling has done to it.

September's here again. School days are coming back. How sad.

September is a beautiful month, a rich and passionate month and I hate what schooling has done to it.

Because of school, September becomes a season of worrying- I still have to shake that feeling of dread that comes over me even though I am a grown up and never have to set foot in a school building again.

I still remember that feeling of quiet despair I used to get as a little girl; looking over my new school clothes (who cares?) -unhappy because the school calendar says the holiday is good and done and summer is over (when it isn't- it's still sunny and hot).

I would have nightmares year and years later about school. I'd dream of myself in that horrid blue uniform that they made us wear in high-school. I'd be in an exam and completely clueless. I'd wake up in horror then sink back into my pillows in relief. It was all a dream! Luckily for me, that has passed.

But what I find amazing is that many people I've talked to about this very subject still experience school anxiety well into their 50s! Some of these people were excellent students, went of to PhD s etc.

What does that tell you about the trauma school puts us through? Doesn't that make your blood boil to think of how a stupid system can leave its scars on our psyche years after the fact?

Restore September to what it is supposed to be: a month of harvest, of bountifulness, of joy and sharing rather than the imposed paucity that schools inflict on it. Have a party, celebrate. Liberate September!