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.

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

I believe prisons should only be used for the purpose of rehabilitation. By this I mean it should teach criminals how to correctly function in society, something they have previously failed to do. I believe that they should not be put there simply for the sake of fairness/comeupance or to deter other would-be lawbreakers from mimicking their actions.

Therefore, I do not find the idea that a system used to teach children how to do well in society might resemble a system used to teach criminals how not to fail in society at all worrying or even surprising. It would be pointless to teach children to simply seek immediate fulfilment while ignoring the advise of authority, partially because this is not a fantastic trait for success or even survival (remember to wear your seatbelt kids!), but mainly because children are already fantastic at doing that by themselves.

TL;DR version: your aunt either doesn't know enough about schools, or doesn't know enough about prisons.

Here's a video comparing some aspects of schools to those of prisons.

[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.

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.

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 .

My aunt does try to have her children interact with other children via organized homeschooling meetings and feel trips (which contradicts her idea that things should not be systematic). And, more often than not, the parents will eventually reach a level to where they are unable to support their learning needs. This is when it's best to put your kids in a public school.


My aunt is disabled and hasn't have a stable job in at least a year. Regardless, she's an adult, and she should know that there are times when organized systems are needed. If she is unable to see this, she should not be schooling her children in the first place.


Please don't post in the discussion board unless you're willing to put in effort into typing out a full thought that can contribute to the thread.

Sorry, not sorry. So this is not considered a completely useless post. Schools are not prisons. They have a lot in common with this thing called, the real world and average jobs.