Original Post
The argument that schools function similarly to prison.
This seems to be a rather popular topic amongst the teenagers who don't really know anything, but I'm sure there are some points that may be correct. There's a very common idea that a school is very much similar to a prison, systematically. A few points were brought up by my Aunt over a somewhat bias facebook post (She's homeschooling her children, and hates the public school system). She brought up a few similarities between the system that public schools and prisons have. These may or may not be valid, that's why they are up for debate.
1. They both have an authoritarian structure
2. They both have strict dress codes
3. They both have "Negative" reinforcement
4. "Walking in lines" honestly this one is pretty fucking stupid
5. Abridged freedoms
6. No input for decision making
7. Set times enforced for eating, walking, etc.
Here's a few articles I briefly skimmed through that bring up some points.
Debate.
1. They both have an authoritarian structure
2. They both have strict dress codes
3. They both have "Negative" reinforcement
4. "Walking in lines" honestly this one is pretty fucking stupid
5. Abridged freedoms
6. No input for decision making
7. Set times enforced for eating, walking, etc.
Here's a few articles I briefly skimmed through that bring up some points.
Edsweek
Evancarmicheal
Valterain1 was defeated by hermaphrodite on Oct 17, 2015.
So you're saying have all children in school go do whatever they want?
This keeps everyone organized in the school. If even 1 of these rules weren't there, the school would be chaotic. Kids cant say nor do what they want because they are not mature enough. Now the whole "No input for decision making", if that wasn't there then who makes the rules? If you go to your job, do you tell your boss how to work?
It's how the world works
This keeps everyone organized in the school. If even 1 of these rules weren't there, the school would be chaotic. Kids cant say nor do what they want because they are not mature enough. Now the whole "No input for decision making", if that wasn't there then who makes the rules? If you go to your job, do you tell your boss how to work?
It's how the world works
Originally Posted by Bercat
Here's a video comparing some aspects of schools to those of prisons.
Prison's not so bad I guess
[Citation needed]
Going to go ahead and respond to these 1 by 1
1. "Outdoor time"
First thing I notice is the weasel word,
Many prisons mandate that inmates get 2 hours outside everyday
and most kids get less than an hour
Can't really stick many or most to an actual number or percentage, the next thing said is
"30% of kids get less than 15 minutes" That's kind of silly even if it is true, when I go to school the reason I don't get much "outside time" is because I'm involved in groups/clubs that I enjoy going to more than I would spending an hour outside doing stuff.
Plus in prison you're there the entire day, not just ~5,6,7 hours in schools, when you're out of school you have the option to go outside for another 5,6,7 hours and do things. Much more time than 2 hours.
2. Degrees
This one hurts my brain, it's literally different wording for similar cases.
"Federal law requires prisons to offer GED courses"
"In the U.S students are not required to finish a high school diploma"
this one is so badly worded that it physically hurts.
Let me switch around the wording.
Federal law requires schools to offer a high school diploma.
In the U.S prisoners are not required to finish GED courses.
The weasel wording is so real.
"in Oklahoma a higher percentage of inmates have GEDs than ordinary free citizens" How about the rest of the world? Pretty sure only Oklahoma was mentioned because it's the only example they could find, selective reporting is fun.
3. Food
instead of writing this down I'm just going to assume you read it, plus I don't really have much to write about the amount of calories and other things the body needs because I don't know much about it.
But
I feel like this data is out-dated, here where I live schools don't serve milk at all. Plus students have access to food from home, unlike prisoners who's only food is from the prison cafe.
"School lunches don't usually have meat and don't include both fruits and veggies"
Man I really like these weasel words
I eat veggies in my sandwiches in lunch often, and I've seen others as-well, I also eat fruits during lunch, but children are fussier eaters than adults, so children may not enjoy veggies, so why would they eat it when they could have food they enjoy?
"Meaning, on average, prisoners' food costs less and is more well-balanced"
Not going to say anything, because I know little about this subject...
4. Budget
".......Costs the U.S 6.3 Billion per year, the U.S education budget is 138 billion per year. That sounds like alot more, but the average annual cost per student: $11,000, the average annual cost per inmate: 22,000"
Again, not going to comment on much because I don't know much, but schools look after kids for 5-7 hours, prisons look after them the entire day.
Last edited by imaSlayaa; Aug 18, 2015 at 09:07 AM.
Reason: Grammar corrections
Originally Posted by ImmortalPig
Tell your aunty to get a job, because practically every job will have at least this much in common with prisons too.
I'd also tell her not to homeschool her kids unless she wants them ending up socially awkward (and possibly undereducated, too).
What the teachers teach kids is about half of the reason why schools exist, it's also responsible for teaching kids to be functional members of society.
Every institution has a set of rules to follow, be that school, prison or your workplace, so that's pretty much where the similarities begin and end.
Last edited by ynvaser; Aug 18, 2015 at 03:20 PM.
schools arent prisons because srsly tho , Schools are made to teach not to put the students to jail .
maybe your aunt felt that schools is like prisons because the old days (her old days)
but trust me its not a prison .
maybe your aunt felt that schools is like prisons because the old days (her old days)
but trust me its not a prison .
Last edited by Moataz; Aug 18, 2015 at 03:38 PM.
Rejuvenation is the way.
