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School or Prison

schoolprison.com

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Re: School or Prison

#211

Post by pvorb »

amelius wrote: post #188
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…

The teacher faces the same problem. Taxi/bus drivers have the same problem.

But often there's too few bathrooms for too many children, so they can't go in those five minutes when they're supposed to. That was my experience at least.

Re: School or Prison

#212

Post by watermelon59 »

lemonspat wrote: post #118
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…

I had the same college experience. I nearly raised my hand to request permission but saw other kids just leaving class (sophomores I think)

It's so weird because we go from being treated like children one year, to being treated like adults the next. There's no in-between.

Re: School or Prison

#213

Post by howlgarnish »

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…

In Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn notes that denying prisoners the right to go to the bathroom during lengthy interrogations was a standard tactic, and a surprisingly effective one. The shame of soiling ourselves is so deeply ingrained in us that many people will confess to things they didn't do just to avoid it, even when they know the consequence is years in the Gulag.

Re: School or Prison

#215

Post by fireattack »

Aunche wrote: post #182

In China, a lot of schools in poorer areas have bars with them, which makes them look like prisons. These aren't highly competitive schools, so it doesn't make sense for the bars to be for the students. Rather they're to prevent people from breaking in and stealing the furniture. https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1098,...

This has nothing to do with school; you can barely find any low-level windows without bar in most of cities in China.

Re: School or Prison

#216

Post by flippinburgers »

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…

It is a matter of dealing with the lowest common denominator I guess.

Re: School or Prison

#217

Post by herbstein »

JorgeGT wrote: post #136
lemonspat wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same college experience. I nearly raised my hand to request permission but saw other kids just leaving class (sophomores I think)

I'm an assistant professor and every year some student will indeed ask if they can go to the bathroom...

I will sometimes still announce "I'm going to the bathroom" at work. Not because anyone needs to know, but because it has been so wholly ingrained. I'm just glad I don't impulsively ask for permission.

Re: School or Prison

#218

Post by Nextgrid »

bettem wrote: post #120
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…

> 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 time. This is a fairly reductive statement. Dealing with children is incredibly taxing and difficult. Teachers are [in my country] underpaid and under-appreciated and I believe this…

> Dealing with children is incredibly taxing and difficult

No surprise it's difficult if you already sour the relationship by treating them poorly and give the kids a reason to hate you from day one. Maybe things will be better if you don't start by making up petty rules that don't help anyone?

---

In middle school I remember we had a maths teacher who was very good, in the sense that she let us do pretty much whatever we wanted as long as we weren't disrupting anyone else. This ended up working out well for both sides; those who wanted to learn and engage with the coursework could do so, and those who gave up on it and weren't interested could relax and entertain themselves to make time fly instead of being bored and dreading the class.

In comparison, we had a very severe history teacher, who'd give you spiteful extra assignments (which would escalate further if you didn't do them) if you were lacking in one way or another. Did it help? I don't think so; I remember more about dreading the class and making up excuses/strategies to get away from the class or the assignments than the content of the coursework itself, and I can say for sure that the class was universally hated and dreaded.

Re: School or Prison

#220

Post by alisonkisk »

albatruss wrote: post #54
kiba wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that is how schools functions and that they were trying to make obedient citizens that follows regular hours or whatever nonsense people conjure up. The reason schools operate that way is simple: sheer inertia combined with just being impervious to reform.

What makes the the nonsense you're conjuring up, with no argument or research, more valid than that of the renowned philosophers you are trivially dismissing? Doubt is good, but strong, unjustified claims are not.

Which philosophers? Foucault was talking about prisons, not schools.
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