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
I believe school is not very similar to prison. We are not stuck at school 24/7 and get the leave at the end of the day. We also get to choose some of the classes that we have. However, there are some things that the school could do a better job of teaching that are actually useful instead of some other things that most people will never see again after high school.
Exactly, my dad wasn't required to take Alg 2 and such stuff. All he had to take was general Math. And he's fine with what he does now, and he uses the general math he was taught
I don't think school is like a prison, we still have freedom and get to do most things on our own. But I do think they should teach more things that everyone will use in the future. Not everyone wants to go into a workforce that is all about math, science, English, etc. A lot of things that we should actually know for our future aren't ever taught in school. So in my opinion, school isn't like a prison, but we should be learning more rellivant topics.
I agree, the topics aren't relevant to us. We still have to go everyday and learn stuff that won't ever be needed. The only time my mom has used the math she was taught was to help me with math
I think school is like a prison and I think that school does not prepare us for the real world because they don't teach us how to do stuff we actually need and the school normally just adds stress that isn't needed. I also think that if they taught life skills people would actually listen.
A lot of people are saying that. If there was life skills, or if they told us how we would use the things they are teaching us, I would listen a lot more because there is a purpose
I do not think that school is like a prison. We get to go home after school. We also get to have cell phones and other devices. I think that school is good because we can learn and figure out what we want to do. If you don't like the school you can go work at a trade school.
I'm planning on going to a trade school after high school, but most places require you to have a diploma. So we still have to go through school before we can do a trade
I think yes school is like prison. You have to be up by a certain time you have a schedule that you have to follow ever day. Their are teachers (gaurdes) in the halls all the time and watching you all day. You can get out early and you get out eventually. teachers give you work to do aka chorse and you do all this everyday all day with hardly anybreaks.
Exactly, and in some schools there is guards roaming, and they have to go through metal detectors. It's for safety, but it's still sad
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