Negative reinforcement, emphasis on silence and order, abridged freedoms, no input in decision-making, dress code/uniforms, and more, are all similarities that you can see between school and prison. Overall, both industries suppress people into conformity.
In school, you must arrive at the same time and leave at the same time, day after day. You are given a schedule to follow and rules not to break. You are expected to follow the rules built into the school and expected not challenge the infrastructure of the system. Teachers are all-powerful. They control what your mind is being fed, and other school officials decide what your body is being fed as well. We have no control over how they go about our everyday lives because such a huge part of it (eight hours of school) is being controlled by others.
We don’t have a say in what we are learning. Our knowledge is what empowers us, and because there is such a strong disconnect in what is being taught, we no longer feel that knowledge and education are important in our lives. The biggest reason for learning and putting effort into our work is the why factor, why is what we are learning important to us? So many curricula do not answer the most important question, therefore we don’t care about what they are learning because there is a good reason to be learning it. Instead of teaching lifelong skills, like handling personal expenses, growing your own food, health, and wellness, how to change the oil in a car, etc., we are being taught information that will never matter in the real world.
In my opinion, school is like a prison, but we are allowed to leave. If we do decide to leave early, we get a detention, which would be like getting more added to your sentence. I definitely think, as high schoolers, we should be able to have more say in what goes on in our lives. Do we need all 3 years of math that we will never use? In English we go through the same thing year after year, but with different projects.
Questions
Do you think we should have more say about what goes into our lives?
Is school like Prison?
If they taught life skills, would you actually listen?
How do you think we could change this?
How do you think school prepares us for the real world?
Sources
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/11/11/when-school-feels-like-jail
https://www.mackinac.org/blog/2022/whats-the-difference-between-school-and-jail
Replies
You are right, we don't have much freedom, and it is very boring. If it did teach life lesson I would listen more, but until then, we will still be learning about DNA
I think that school is not like prison. surethe school forces us to eat and be at a certain place at certain times and same with classes but I bet that the teachers that have already been in our situation are glad at what they learn. I can see how some people say it feels like a prison. Prisoners are being consequences for their actions, we are not. School teaches us the basics in life.
I have to disagree, although they are there for there consequences, it almost feels like we are falsely accused. We are having to pay the price for having nothing.
I think school is a good comparison to prison. Long classes that you have no interest in and that you most likely won't use later in life feel like a prison. In classes that I do have an interest in go by fast and there is a good chance I'll use it in later life. I do not think that school prepares you for the real world.
I agree, when I have an interest in the class, I listen more, in welding, I'm happy and in woods, other then that, i just go throughout the day. Everyone tells us to just go through the motions, but we shouldn't have to, we should be able to learn life skills
I think that school is like prison. If they did teach life skills I would listen more than I do now. schools do need lots of rules if there weren't any rules then the whole day would be a mess. I'm not sure there's a whole lot that we could do to change this.
We can't really change it, it's just a fact of life. But I wish it wouldn't have to be this way. It is very boring. The school is literally wasting my life, while all the teachers are giving us quotes like "live life to the fullest" but we can live life when we are here.
I think we should have more say in what we learn and what we do in our lives, Also I do think school can feel a lot like a prison in several ways like the schedules and not being able to decide what we are eating except when we are seniors but most seniors are 18 so the school no longer has legal responsibility because of that fact. I think if the school taught us things that would help in the real world more people would listen not all people would but more would. I don't know how we would change this, but I do know that a lot of studies say that 98% of what students learn in school is a waste and you will never use it in real life.
I agree, it's just a big waste of time. I'm learning useless knowledge that doesn't help me in life. I also think we should have more say in what we eat. We are putting it into our bodies and the people that really have a say just bring there own lunch. For some this is there only meal for the day, so if they are serving raw food. That is what they are eating for the day is raw food
I don't think that school is like prison. Of course, there are rules that need to be followed in order to make this work. With so many people at one place, there needs to be a certain schedule and expectations. Regarding the content that we learn at school, I think that we could be taught more life skills and more things that will actually help us in the future.
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