If they didn't make schools like
prisons, how would they be preparing children for the modern workplace? The resemblance is not accidental. Much of the structure of contemporary schooling
originates in what historians call the factory-model education system, developed in the nineteenth century to produce punctual, compliant workers for industrial economies. The daily schedule of bells, queues, silent compliance, and permission slips is an elegant rehearsal for adulthood. The workforce positively demands graduates who have mastered the sacred arts of waiting quietly, asking to use the restroom, and performing repetitive tasks under surveillance. How else will they thrive in open-plan offices?
Of course, a few idealists complain that future workplaces demand
creativity, autonomy, and
adaptability. The Center for American Progress prattles on about students needing a "broad range of skills and abilities," as though the modern manager prefers innovation to punctual obedience. If schools were not structured like prisons, how would they
possibly ready students for a labour market where surveillance software tracks keystrokes, badge systems record movement, and annual reviews determine whether one's metaphorical sentence is extended? Fortunately, most K-12 schools heroically resist such destabilising tendencies. As the Discovery Institute
points out, schools have admirably retained their industrial-era structure. Proof of their commitment to preparing children for the only thing that truly matters: sitting down and
doing as they're told!