The school I once went to now resembles a prison

[heavenlyboy34]

Happened to pass by the grade school I went to ~20 years ago. It looks like a friggin prison complex. :eek: Can't even see a playground through all the grey brick buildings. Is this a trend everywhere?

[bolil]

Gentrified area or hood?

[czarinaB]

Good thing it was now your old school. Better make the school look child-friendly and not like a prison.

[osan]

Happened to pass by the grade school I went to ~20 years ago. It looks like a friggin prison complex. :eek: Can't even see a playground through all the grey brick buildings. Is this a trend everywhere?

Yes, it is a trend in school architecture. I do not know whether there is some broader psychological deal at work here, but it would not surprise me. I can readily imagine that those at to top of the government education complex might find acclimatization and reinforcement value in the placement of children in physical environments that are materially suggestive of government presence and authority. This is in no way far-fetched. I was once a teacher in NYC and served for several years on a state panel that was planning the "future" of education in the state. For those who do not believe in conspiracies, I can tell you first hand that not only do they exist but that they are wide ranging and very well funded. Scoff if you will, but I know differently through first hand, kissed-on-the-lips experience.

When they build the new (at the time) Adelphia Middle School in NJ, the first time we laid eyes on it, the very first things out of our mouths was how it looked just like a prison. I have lived in about a dozen states in the USA, considerably more than the average citizen, and EVERYWHERE and without exception, every single new school I have seen that was built in the past 20 years has this overbearing presence of character to remind one of prison. There may be no specific intent there, but there is no possible way that it is mere coincidence. It could be that the Dep. Of Ed. has drafted architectural standards for the construction of schools moving forward. That in itself would tend to raise my suspicions. :(

[playboymommy]

The high school I went to for 9th and 10th grade is a prison. I remember when my parents were given their 'marching orders' and we went to see the new neighborhood. Apparently it was spring concert night and there was a line to get into the school, after passing through the metal detectors. The building also has no windows, NO WINDOWS! By the end of my sophomore year I got a job and paid my way to a private school. It's a shame really because the elementary school in the district is very good. Then it just goes downhill once middleschool starts. My daughter has two years left at her elementary school. My goal is to be able to afford to home school her by then or afford a private school. I will not send her to that district's middleschool/highschool, it's the same building.

[tttppp]

Yes, it is a trend in school architecture. I do not know whether there is some broader psychological deal at work here, but it would not surprise me. I can readily imagine that those at to top of the government education complex might find acclimatization and reinforcement value in the placement of children in physical environments that are materially suggestive of government presence and authority. This is in no way far-fetched. I was once a teacher in NYC and served for several years on a state panel that was planning the "future" of education in the state. For those who do not believe in conspiracies, I can tell you first hand that not only do they exist but that they are wide ranging and very well funded. Scoff if you will, but I know differently through first hand, kissed-on-the-lips experience.

When they build the new (at the time) Adelphia Middle School in NJ, the first time we laid eyes on it, the very first things out of our mouths was how it looked just like a prison. I have lived in about a dozen states in the USA, considerably more than the average citizen, and EVERYWHERE and without exception, every single new school I have seen that was built in the past 20 years has this overbearing presence of character to remind one of prison. There may be no specific intent there, but there is no possible way that it is mere coincidence. It could be that the Dep. Of Ed. has drafted architectural standards for the construction of schools moving forward. That in itself would tend to raise my suspicions. :(

I'm not a teacher but I was in school a long time, and it does resemble a prison. The teachers treat their students as if they are prisoners. If you examine the content you are taught, very little learning actually takes place. It seems their goal is to occupy 7-8 hours of your day more than it is to teach you something.

When I was going to school, I never got the impression that learning was the number 1 goal. It seemed more like a punishment than anything else. My guess is they are trying to train kids to get used to the corporate prisons they will soon be in.

[heavenlyboy34]

Gentrified area or hood?
N. Phoenix suburbia.

[ZanZibar]

You should see the new ones they build these days. My high school was built in 1996 and they designed it exactly like a prison or old fort. Concrete block walls surrounding the place, courtyard in the middle area. It's quite disturbing.

[bolil]

N. Phoenix suburbia.

They perfect the methods on the poor and the middle class don't see it coming, and poof... I'm sorry man, hard to see it in the home town even if its a suburb (I hail from a sub myself)

I know its fallacious but I gotta say: Anyone that believes public education serves a purpose OTHER than indoctrinating is out of their freaking minds. Perhaps they build them like prisons not only because they are being used as quasi prisons, but because one day they will be used a local holding cells for undesirables. What a clever way to get people to pay for their own detention centers... call it a school.

[priest_of_syrinx]

For what it's worth, my middle school was built 12 years ago and is kind of pretty!

http://bismarckcafe.com/pictures/horizon-3.JPG

[playboymommy]

For what it's worth, my middle school was built 12 years ago and is kind of pretty!

http://bismarckcafe.com/pictures/horizon-3.JPG

:eek: WoW. That is refreshing. Here's the prison I went to for two years. Just looking at the picture depresses me. 1316

[LibertyIn08]

:eek: WoW. That is refreshing. Here's the prison I went to for two years. Just looking at the picture depresses me. 1316

When was yours built? Looks like a Brutalist structure, which really only caught on in campuses in the United States.

[Voluntary Man]

Happened to pass by the grade school I went to ~20 years ago. It looks like a friggin prison complex. :eek: Can't even see a playground through all the grey brick buildings. Is this a trend everywhere?

I've always said that public school is just prison with training wheels.

Maybe, they're just finally dropping the facade?

[NoOneButPaul]

Most schools now a days are like prisons, and most students are treated like prisoners.

It's all about making our youth think it's ok to be controlled, really quiet sad.

[playboymommy]

When was yours built? Looks like a Brutalist structure, which really only caught on in campuses in the United States.

I think 1979. It was built to combine two districts, one of a white neighborhood and one of a black neighborhood. There were a lot of fights and riots. I'm not originally from here so I just know what my friends and neighbors have told me.

[DerailingDaTrain]

For what it's worth, my middle school was built 12 years ago and is kind of pretty!

http://bismarckcafe.com/pictures/horizon-3.JPG

Looks like a modern "pretty" prison lol

[Kevin_Dubro]

The school I once went to now resembles a prison
The government knows that if they let schools degrade to hell then parents will pay to send their kids to private schools. That takes the burden of paying for your kids off of their spending budget. There's so many ways they get you besides raising taxes. Keeping funding for things like schools and 911 at the bottom of the spending list helps them get yes votes to raise taxes. They pulled this stunt in Santa Monica, CA. An extra 1/2 cent sales tax raise to pay for "the schools". Voters fell for it hook line and sinker.

[Lishy]

Students today have more freedom than they ever did. I think we're forgetting how they use to shove cold war propaganda down our throats...

[donnay]

Students today have more freedom than they ever did. I think we're forgetting how they use to shove cold war propaganda down our throats...

What? Ummm Zero Tolerance...Kids cannot even be kids, no joking, no pranks, no fun of any kind!! It's not freedom, it is prison!!

Big brouhaha over New Dorp boy's tiny toy gun (http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/big_brouhaha_over_tiny_toy_gun.html)

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6-Year-Old Scout Suspended for Bringing Knife-Fork-Spoon Utensil to School (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564605,00.html)

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13-year-old student at Safford Middle School in Arizona, was strip-searched by school officials in search of -- this is no joke -- ibuprofen (http://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2009/04/26/more_than_a_silly_strip_search)

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A high school Christmas sweater club gets in trouble for passing out tiny candy canes in school. Administrator tells one kid "candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them (http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=126671&catid=188)".

Yeah, because kids in school don't have anything else to stab other students with - like say a pencil.

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A 14-year-old girl got expelled from school for having a butter knife in her backpack. How reasonable.

"She ran out of the house to meet the bus while making a sandwich, when she realized she had the knife. She put it in her bookbag, then she put it in her locker at Goose Creek High school. She forgot it was there until a few weeks later when the knife fell out of her overstuffed locker."

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10 years in juvi detention and a permanent record as a sex offender - all for slapping a girls ass in school. (http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2007/07/22/Teens-facing-sex-charges-for-butt-slaps/UPI-34711185144835/) Yep, that sounds reasonable

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So Oregon has a ban on hugging in schools (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156620,00.html). Nice rule. I guess the next time that the girls volleyball team wins a home game, they are all going to get detention for hugging on the floor in celebration.

Or even better, if a student would commit suicide or die in a car crash, how many others would get detention for the hugfest that would ensue the next day at school as the kids deal with their grief.

Its just another in a long line of bad rules made by power-mad school administrators.

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A 16-year old in Georgia got suspended from school because a drug dog indicated his backpack smelled like marijuana and cocaine. (http://www.wtoc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1698605&nav=0qq6LOnP)

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11-year-old gets suspended from school for 35 days for a creative writing project that the principal deemed 'threatening' (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/nyregion/30LONG.html?ex=1070773200&en=db8e752f3adb047c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE).

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School has students wear a 'punishment t-shirt' (http://www.neoflux.com/archive/data/2002/0828-020032.shtml) if they violate the dress code.

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Four 7th graders suspended for pointing fingers like a gun (http://www.neoflux.com/archive/data/2002/0513-203725.shtml)

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9-year-old suspended for 'kick me' sign (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/kicked_out_for_prank_8itjNST1uZYzxodQW3GwhM). It's a sign of the times. The classic schoolhouse prank of slapping a "kick me" sign on a classmate's back is no joke at one Upper East Side school, where the city's zero-tolerance anti-bullying policy was strictly enforced against a 9-year-old boy.

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Boy, 6, gets suspended from school after making gun sign with fingers, pointing at classmates ( http://www.nydailynews.com/news/boy-6-suspended-school-making-gun-sign-fingers-pointing-classmates-article-1.171515#ixzz1oLvxz4PR)

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[eduardo89]

My school never really felt like a prison, although it does have underground dungeons

http://www.salem-baden.de/uploads/pics/schule-schloss-salem.jpg

[Lymeade-Lady]

The high school I went to for 9th and 10th grade is a prison. I remember when my parents were given their 'marching orders' and we went to see the new neighborhood. Apparently it was spring concert night and there was a line to get into the school, after passing through the metal detectors. The building also has no windows, NO WINDOWS! By the end of my sophomore year I got a job and paid my way to a private school. It's a shame really because the elementary school in the district is very good. Then it just goes downhill once middleschool starts. My daughter has two years left at her elementary school. My goal is to be able to afford to home school her by then or afford a private school. I will not send her to that district's middleschool/highschool, it's the same building.If you can afford not to work, you can afford the rest. PM me if you need help on how to do it cheaply but with excellence. I did it for a while with about 1/2 of one income that our family was living on while I was chronically ill. One of the best choices I ever made. If you can't afford not to work, you may be able to pay another mom to homeschool your daughter with hers for a very reasonable price. It's not much more trouble to add another same age child once they can work independently if the child is respectful and willing to work. I have a friend who homeschools her high school son in the evening b/c she works. Hope things work out for you.

[donnay]

My school never really felt like a prison, although it does have underground dungeons

http://www.salem-baden.de/uploads/pics/schule-schloss-salem.jpg

That reminds me of the movie, Toy Soldiers. (good movie!)

[pcosmar]

http://is0.gaslightmedia.com/saulstemarie/tbs1/is12-1229625192-63168.jpeg
http://www.saultathleticboosters.com/images/schl.jpg
Can't find any good pics online.. but i did find a "Class of 75" Facebook page..
That was worth the search.

This is the first school I remember. My Mom taught school here.

http://www.fortunebaycompany.com/Past%20Events/Soo%20Locks/lime_island_school.jpg

[donnay]

This was my first school I ever attended.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3363/3640506819_714d0e9b76_z.jpg

[xFiFtyOnE]

I graduated 10 years ago and recently went back to visit my high school. It's crazy. Armed security guards, cameras and metal detectors in the halls. And all students and staff are required to have school printed photo IDs. None of that was there just 10 years ago...scary stuff.

[pcosmar]

What an interesting Rabbit trail,,,,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Education

A previous Department of Education was created in 1867 but soon was demoted to an Office in 1868.[3] As an agency not represented in the president's cabinet, it quickly became a relatively minor bureau in the Department of the Interior. In 1939, the bureau was transferred to the Federal Security Agency, where it was renamed the Office of Education. In 1953, the Federal Security Agency was upgraded to cabinet-level status as the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Security_Agency


The reorganization plan created the cabinet-level Federal Security Agency. Included in the FSA was the Social Security Board, the U.S. Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Office of Education (later the United States Department of Education), the National Youth Administration and a number of other agencies.[1] Its first director was Paul V. McNutt. Secretly, the FSA was also a cover agency from 1942 to 1944 for the War Research Service, a secret program to develop chemical and biological weapons.[2]

Hmmm, the trail goes a bit deeper,, but in a direction I am familiar with.

http://www.whale.to/b/timeline.html