School or Prison • Hacker News Board

Re: School or Prison

#271

Post by jeena » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:29 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #251

matthewfcarlson wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my favorite memories of high school was making guacamole in my physics class. I finished the exam early and had some spare time. Lunch was at 1:30pm and I had breakfast 5:40am most mornings. The teacher walked over, grabbed a chip, scooped up some of the guac, and munched on it. "Luck for you, that's really good. Otherwise I'd kick you out of class"

Yes, meal times for kids in school are also poorly structured, often dictated by over-crowded facilities that can't hold enough people to let everyone eat at a normal lunch time. My kids' school starts at 8:50 am, but one of them has lunch 11:00 a.m. with 4 hours afterwards during which they can't eat. We let him bring a snack and tell him to let his teacher know his parents gave him permission to eat, and they shoul…

Although it might make sense to do some research about all this snacking all the time. It seems that while in the 50ies people ate 2-3 times a day nowadays its more like 6-8 times a day and we have a huge epidemic of obesity and diabetes.

4 hours without food seems very short, it only would be a problem if the main food source would be fast carbs which let the blood sugar drop very quickly afterwards.

Re: School or Prison

#272

Post by DecoPerson » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:29 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #108

tikhonj wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High-end office builds are also efficient rectangular prisms far more often than not, yet they don't feel like hospitals, schools or prisons. I've spent extensive time in all of these except prisons, and I can tell you the difference is stark. What explains that? Is it all just down to expensive trim and interior decor? I'm sure that plays a part, but that was never my main impression. Instead, it comes down to the l…

High-end office buildings cost massively more to build. Also plenty of them put employees in a very aesthetically pleasing well-lit panopticon with open-plan seating. I much prefer my dingy fluorescent-lit office that has a door that closes. (And I turn of the fluorescent lights in favor of my own small lamp.)

Floor fitout is typically left to the tenant, not the landlord. Building skyscrapers with empty floors gives flexibility to future tenants, increasing the rental/purchase value.

Tall office buildings may often have open plan, but this should be attributed to the fitout builder’s client (e.g. SomeCrazySoftwateCompany as the incoming tenant), not the building builder’s client (e.g. SomeGroupInvestmentCompany the owner of the building)

Re: School or Prison

#273

Post by grecy » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:30 AM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #253

grecy wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Our principal refused to let students leave campus, as a student had gotten in a car wreck over lunch and died at a previous school. So, there's some logic there By that logic, we should never let students leave at all, because certainly some have been killed in car wrecks on the way home. There is NO logic in preventing people doing that which they will do later anyway.

No -- common law ascribes different responsibilities to a school during the school day, in comparison to before arriving or after leaving for the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_loco_parentis The logic isn't "kids might die in a crash", it is that "schools are responsible for what happens to kids during the school day". The school administration isn't trying to be altruistic, they're trying to avoid liability f…

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Re: School or Prison

#274

Post by mr_toad » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:31 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #100

A more meaningful comparison would be bathroom privileges. In prison you can pretty much poop or get a drink of water whenever you want. In school you need special permission, and hope the teacher wasn't in a bad mood or that 3 other kids hadn't needed to pee in the last half hour, meeting some mental quota the teacher has for the appropriate # of people that should have to use the toilet during a given period of tim…

> Seriously, it seemed like a revolutionary concept when I hit college and realized "Hold on, I can just get up & go?."

Well it’s not like you have to be there at all, so no ones going to care why you get up and leave.

Re: School or Prison

#275

Post by adav » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:31 AM UTC

I wrote an essay for an English creative writing lesson comparing our school with prison. It led to a detention where I was asked to rewrite it...

Re: School or Prison

#276

Post by nolongerlowres » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:32 AM UTC

throwaway998662 wrote: post #266

As someone who's been to prison and school, lots of comments here sound pretty tone deaf. Prison in the USA is really bad. Yes school is authoritarian, but most popular entertainment on prisons downplays how bad it really gets. Watch some interviews of people who have actually been to prison. Murder and rape is common (I saw it happen), you will get your possessions stolen under the threat of murder/rape, you'll prob…

Thank you for posting this. I couldn’t believe the other comments trying to equate schools with prison. It’s unbelievable how we treat prisoners in the US. I wish there was more I could do than vote and donate to causes like the ACLU. Starting to realize that my beliefs are in the minority re: how to treat fellow countrymen, even those who have committed crimes.

Re: School or Prison

#277

Post by Kluny » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:39 AM UTC

anonytrary wrote: post #270

leephillips wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like her. Last time I taught HS I told my students that I would never deny them the right to go to the bathroom, but that if they went more than three times in a week (or something) I would send a note to the nurse so she could discuss a possible health issue with them and their parents.

Going to the bathroom more than three times a week means they have a health issue? Seems a bit heavy-handed. Lots of kids get bullied and would rather go to the bathroom during class when no one else is in the bathroom. At some point, it becomes routine so it makes sense that you would go to the bathroom during the same class. That said, my world history class in high school was so boring, I would ask to go to the ba…

Getting bullied so much you're afraid to use the bathroom may not be a health issue, but it sure is an issue. If I was a parent I would want to know if that was happening.

Re: School or Prison

#278

Post by lukifer » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:39 AM UTC

jokethrowaway wrote: post #202

Aerroon wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but generally people go to those places because they want to, or because it offers them a favorable outcome that they're willing to temporarily trade some autonomy for. I don't think this is why kids go to school. You go to school because you have to . There is no realistic option not to go. If you don't go, then you'll be forcefully put into a school for troubled kids. Even if you don't consider the above, there i…

I wish there were solid alternatives to school. I hate the current system but I also want my kids to be socialised and have friends. I'd definitely pay a private company providing "home schooling" and using a different model of education where kids are learning by doing instead of memorising crap and at the same time can share a location with other kids of the same age (+ a few tutor available to unblock kids when ne…

You might take a look at the "unschooling" movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of how such initiatives work in practice; but at a high level, it's like home-schooling with more community involvement and socialization, as well as off-site learning experiences. I've also heard of some families who do half-and-half between a formal school environment, and unschooling/homeschooling.

Re: School or Prison

#279

Post by Kluny » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:41 AM UTC

jeena wrote: post #271

ineedasername wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, meal times for kids in school are also poorly structured, often dictated by over-crowded facilities that can't hold enough people to let everyone eat at a normal lunch time. My kids' school starts at 8:50 am, but one of them has lunch 11:00 a.m. with 4 hours afterwards during which they can't eat. We let him bring a snack and tell him to let his teacher know his parents gave him permission to eat, and they shoul…

Although it might make sense to do some research about all this snacking all the time. It seems that while in the 50ies people ate 2-3 times a day nowadays its more like 6-8 times a day and we have a huge epidemic of obesity and diabetes. 4 hours without food seems very short, it only would be a problem if the main food source would be fast carbs which let the blood sugar drop very quickly afterwards.

I'm 5'7" and 130lbs (so not fat) and I definitely can't go four hours between meals. I get very angry.

Re: School or Prison

#280

Post by worik » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:42 AM UTC

vntok wrote: post #267

worik wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your school, class, and colour

No you can sue them in pretty much all cases if they put their hands on your kid.

I think you are dreaming.

Have you done that? Sue the powerful (a school board) from a position of powerlessness (black working class in the ghetto)? Probably not, unfair question. Do you really think it is a realistic prospect? Really?