Should School Feel Like a Prison?

I agree with you, it does feel slightly like a prison, but then again, you never went to Thunderbird High School. Compared to that place, it makes MRHS seem like a safe haven more than a prison to me. I have always wondered why the security guards have been roaming about lately though...

It's interesting to see the difference between schools down where you live and up here in New England. We have a police officer who works at our school but basically only busts kids for having pot in their locker. Then there's a hall monitor I guess but she doesn't do anything except yell at girls with short skirts. The other day a freshman got arrested because he was planning on bringing a gun to school, but luckily the kid he was going to do it with chickened out and told someone. The worst part about it was I found out later that I was on his hit list, and if he hadn't been caught, I probably wouldn't be here right now. So in a way, I would feel better if there was more protection in our school, but I don't know if it would make much of a difference.

I see what your saying and all, they don't really seem to offer that much more protection. but come on now your telling me patty and those guys are intimidating you? There are valid reasons for them to be cracking down on kids hanging out in the halls during the middle of class you know. Anyways just wait those guys are really fun to mess with your senior year.

There's an essay by Paul Graham about how the social structure of schools can imprison you: http://paulgraham.com/paulgraham/nerds.html.

With apologies to Paul Graham if my capsule summary is not what he intended.
His essays are excellent and thought provoking and well worth reading.

I think these are particularly good for students, I wish I had read them years ago:

http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html
Why school may seem unsatisfying. Kids are not trusted with a real job. Here are suggestions on how you can use your time well while you survive school.

Paul:" So I'm going to tell you what we all wish someone had told us".

http://www.paulgraham.com/inequality.html
This is an good essay on why Communism/Socialism may not be the way.

Paul:"Suppose you wanted to get rid of economic inequality. There are two ways to do it: give money to the poor, or take it away from the rich. …
There is of course a way to make the poor richer without simply shifting money from the rich. You could help the poor become more productive-- for example, by improving access to education. Instead of taking money from engineers and giving it to checkout clerks, you could enable people who would have become checkout clerks to become engineers."

http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html
Nerds don't want to waste all that time on conforming. They spend their time learning
from other bright people

http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
Often the forbidden words you can't say - hide a truth that people don't want to admit.

http://paulgraham.com/love.html

Another Paul Graham article:

School has trained them to regard work as an unpleasant duty. Having a job is said to be even more onerous than schoolwork. And yet all the adults claim to like what they do. You can't blame kids for thinking "I am not like these people; I am not suited to this world."

Actually they've been told three lies: the stuff they've been taught to regard as work in school is not real work; grownup work is not (necessarily) worse than schoolwork; and many of the adults around them are lying when they say they like what they do.

I completely agree with this article. I go to a small Texas school. My class has about 70 people. We don't have security guards and the like, but our administrators seem to be hellbent on keeping kids in line instead of raising standardized test scores and overall morale. What we do have is security cameras out the wazoo. I feel like I'm walking in a modern version of 1984.

One of the main reasons there is so much security in high schools is because of events like Columbine, incidents that are gang related, and the rare cases where a random student thinks it'd be fun to bring a gun to school. I have several friends that are teachers or substitute teachers who don't get paid much at all, in fact teaching is one the lowest paid professions in the US (some janitors get paid more than a high school teacher). People become teachers because they love to teach, not for the money. To any of you who want to be a teacher, how would you like it if one of your students decided to bring a gun to school to show off to his friends and he accidentally shoots you? So now you're in one of the lowest paying jobs in the country, bleeding on the ground because the school cut funding on defensive measures so the History department could get a new set of encyclopedias. The quality of education will increase when the pay equals the demand, until then, the school's defenses must meet the demand.

@Electryk: That may be the stated point, but in general, the security measures are utterly useless and mainly for show. My high school has metal detectors and sheriff's deputies (county) and police officers (city). However, the school has used the metal detectors twice my freshman year, and once this year. They only scan 1 out of 5 people. Also, they only barely check your backpack; they pat the sides. They never actually search you, if the detector goes off, they dont do anything. It is well-known around the school that only African-Americans males get selected for the checks.

Also, occasionally the administrators and security check students for drugs/weapons with a dog, but very rarely. I can't testify to how effective it is, because they have never checked a class of mine. They never, to my knowledge, check honors/AP classes. The profiling in this case makes sense, because how many smart kids are going to bring weapons/drugs to school.

Hey Drew,
Great post! I just graduated last year from a public high school here in New York City, and it a lot like that here. Granted, it's New York, and I guess some would argue "gang wars" and stuff like that, but it's ridiculous. I didn't have metal detectors or anything like that, but we did have dozens of security guards that were constantly intimidating kids.

I always felt like school was prison. I hate school, and it may be my own personal problem. Yeah, it sounds immature, but I really did hate it. Sort of like how people hate there jobs.... but they always can face the risk and leave to work somewhere else, maybe even in a different field. When your in school, your locked in until 18. It is prison.

And elektryk your comment was a little absurd. School should be getting more money for education then anything else. Security is important, but your children are going to a school for an education, not a daily pat down or strip search.

The lovely thing about high school feeling like prison is that college is the opposite! Of course - after those wonderful years, you are back in prison - but one made of responsibilities and financial worries.

To "break out" of the prison that you, and so many high school students experience, is to demand the respect of your "wardens" - teachers, administrators, security personnel. Treat them with respect and as equals - and they will be forced to do the same or you will have valid grounds for complaint. I went to one of the most strict high schools in one of the most infuriating times for students. At my high school we were treated like puppies who had to be spoken to very slowly and disciplined on a regular basis. I battled this by showing teachers that I respected them - but as fellow human beings, not as classroom overlords who can, by a single stroke of a pen, create or destroy my ambitions.

Study your butt off - show them what your are capable of - work hard - even go so far as to make friends with them. Your high school teachers can be a great asset - they of course hold a lot of knowledge, but they also can be great references for everything from scholarships to college to jobs. Don't underestimate their value - because then they will underestimate yours.

I had two high school teachers who straight up changed my life. I had another teacher who literally saved my life. Let them help you.

Do not let them get you down. Do not let anyone ever make you feel like less than what you are - a human being. Don't ever let them forget it. It's all about respect.

Looking back at high school I remember being completely miserable. Standing where I am now, I think it's kind of amusing to listen to you all. Yeah high school sucks, it always has. But it's only 4 years and then you never have to go back.

As far as the security guards go, their presence is supposed to be a deterrent. But so is the death penalty. They are there because there is a heirarchy of power: Parents are at the top, they are the ones who find out that Catcher In the Rye is on your reading list and then call your school to complain that they don't want their child exposed to that kind of language. Parents watch the news and see children bringing guns to school and want to protect their children so they demand the schools provide it.

The school board/ admininistration is next. They will bend over backwards to make your parents happy, which may be an inconvenience to the next two groups.

Then come the teachers, I used to be a part of this group too. they really only have power over the last group, the students. When I was a teacher's aide, I really only got respect from about 10% of the kids I worked with. The teacher I worked for got less. This is why I quit. You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn. It seems to me that if you are busy wandering the halls instead of sitting in class, somebody's got a right to ask you why. If you don't want to be there, you end up causing problems for others.

This will be the easiest time of your life as far as responsibility goes. You don't have to worry about stretching your paychecks so you can have heat and pay your rent. All you have to do right now, is sit down, listen and learn. And it you have to pee, hold it till passing period, your teacher's trying to talk.

Orwellian for sure...good read

Drew is right. The administrators are too caught up disciplining students to actually help the ones who care about their education. My school is on a 4 x 4 block schedule - you take 4 classes for 1:30 per day for a semester, then 4 more the second semester. One of my freinds schedule was screwed up, and the guidance office simply wouldnt fix it. They never listen to students, and try to discourage you from trying to fix things with inane deadlines. My friend eventually had to get her parents involved, but ended up missing 3 weeks of an AP class (equivalent to 6 weeks on a normal schedule).

And if you have to pee, hold it till passing period, your teacher's trying to talk.

Thats barely possible. With 90 minute classes, and 5 minute passing periods, its just not feasible. Everyone tries to use the bathroom, and there just isnt enough time. There are always lines, and if you are late, you risk at the least a tardy, and often, a write-up, whcih most of teh time leads to ISS. The men's rooms at my school have 2 toilet stalls (very graffiti-ed, of course) and 5 urinals in about 10 feet. The urinals do not have walls between them, so people only use the one in the corner; otherwise you couldnt fit past someone when you needed to leave, and can see their parts... 9 urinals and 18 toilets for 5 minutes isnt enough for 900 boys. Not to mention the fact that the bathrooms never have soap or towels (even at the beginning of school) and that teachers have to take toilet paper rolls because the schools cant supply tissues. Also, people avoid the bathrooms, because that is where all the drug deals go down, because there cant be cameras there.

"Going" during class is the only sane option.