Is School like Prison?

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://fee.org/articles/policing-the-public-schools-how-schools-are-becoming-even-more-like-prisons/

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

 

 

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Replies

  • Interesting topic and super job!! +5 new topic

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    • I understand, I just wish they taught more relevant stuff. We shouldn't have to know the quadratic formula. We should be learning math we will actually use in life 

  • In my opinion I don't actually think school is like prison and I think people over exagerate it. We also are allowed to have our phones in some classes which isn't something that prisons do. The only thing that I think is prison like is the food sometimes.

    • Some prisons actually allow them to have iPads and such they can also use a phone to call there loved ones. I think if they taught more realvant stuff we would listen more though 

  • I don't think school is similar to a prison. There are facts to back up the fact that we need school in our loves in order to function in the workforce. I think many people are very overdramatic when it comes to school being like a prison, and it isn't as bad as most people make it out to be.

    • It wouldnt be as bad if we would be taught things we are going to use. Why should I know the quadratic formula if I'm never gonna use it? 

  • Personally I think that having homework will increase homework because it will increase grades, BUT I think they should make it optional most of the time. I feel like teachers should give out participation points, like some do, or have in class assignments. I think that school is becoming too much like a prison and the food also makes it look like prison.

    • I know, if teachers would help us understand the real world , we would be able to make the world a better place. The food is also bad, we shouldn't have to eat raw food 

  • In my personal opinion I think that school does share some similarities with prison, but ultimately I think that some people are extremely overdramatic with how they describe school. I do think that school does prepare students for the workforce to an extent.

    • It does share a Lot of similarities, but I think it should still teach more things realvent to what we are going to do in the workforce. 

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