Re:School or Prison
by SpicyLemonZest on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:02PM
(#25610279)
But I think those schools are a clear example of why it's a hard problem. Urban schools could be great places if we ended their stockhousing and controlling programs - but any school that did that would see a massive drop in graduation rate, from all the students who don't value education and won't show up unless compelled. If the cost of nice, non-controlling urban schools is a 30% graduation rate, is that a price anyone's willing to pay?
(And that's without touching the problem of actively violent, disruptive students, who would probably need to be expelled far sooner than they are to protect a non-controlling environment.)
I think you are under-estimating the extent that many urban schools are preparing students for prison though, and have some structural features in common, even though of course schools aren't nearly as bad as prisons. Contemporary urban schools are often really terrible places, stockhousing and controlling children, preparing them to be stockhoused and controlled.