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by floren 452 days ago
> This just reads as angsty teenage frustration.

And it's a hacker news standby. Any discussion of schools will have at least one commenter calling them prisons.

2 comments

What is it about primary and secondary educate discussions that always bring out the doomers on HN? And, for most people, their sample size is very, very small, but they paint generalisations with a wide brush.
I regret this because it makes for such an easy attack. Not an entirely unjustified comparison though.
It is entirely unjustified. Schools are nothing like prison.
This is sometimes too dramatic but does alright:

https://www.historytools.org/school/why-do-schools-look-like...

>During the 19th century Industrial Revolution, reformers explicitly modeled public schools after factories to habituate youth to regimented workplace environments.

>Cell-like classrooms with regimented rows of desks

>Rigid schedules and rules to control movement

>Obedience to authority figures

>Conformity and standardization

>In the 20th century, disciplinary issues led architects to also incorporate prison elements

>Enclosing perimeter fences up to 10 feet high

>Locked or monitored gates limiting entrance/exit

>Surveillance cameras blanketing hallways and grounds

>Metal detectors

>Mesh covered windows preventing exit attempts

>Sparse and durable interior materials resistant to damage

>Currently over 17% of schools possess 10 or more of these. Their prevalence continues rising yearly.

The article goes on but this should hopefully be illustrative of my point.