Compulsory education is a 12+ year jail sentence and the schools are the prisons

I will be arguing that compulsory education is not significantly similar to jail sentences, by which I mean that it cannot be realistically asserted to be jail-like. Disimilar Purposes A large part of the essence of an institution is its purpose and aims, I argue that the purpose of compulsory education is completely different to the purpose of jail sentences, and so they are not especially more similar than any other insititution. I will begin with outlining the purposes of jail sentences: 1. Deterrence - to deter potential criminals from committing a crime, based on the premise that most people value their freedom 2. Retribution - a form of vengeance, or administration of just punishment towards the perpetrator of a crime that has caused great suffering 3. Rehabilitation - an attempt to change the criminal inclinations of the felon in order to produce a productive and law-abiding member of society. 4. Protection (of society) - Arguably the most pragmatic use of imprisonment; this is to isolate harmful criminals from society to prevent potential crimes that would have been committed if the criminal was able to do so. (1) Now, compare these to the purpose of schools: 1. Social Development - the cultivation of children's ability to interact in a social manner with other children and adults, including the development of concepts such as friendship, relationships and conflict. 2. Vocational Development - the teaching of skills for specific trades such as farming, engineering or crafting. 3. Cognitive Development - Improvement of the mental capacity, knowledge and general intelligence. 4. Emotional Development - Providing an environment suitable for the learning of understanding, management and consideration of emotions. (2) These purposes are very different, aside from rehabilitation perhaps. This is evidence that compulsory education is not comparatively similar to prisons. Differences in essence This section of the argument will list miscellaneous reasons why schools are not similar to prisons: 1. Only education is compulsory, not school attendance. Between 7400 and 34400 children are home-schooled in the UK (3). Conversely, prison attendance is compulsory. 2. Children generally want to go to school, unlike jail which is almost universally disliked. 3. Pupils can be taken out of school at the end of each day or to receive medical help, prisoners are confined 24/7 and most medical help is carried out within the jail. 4. Education is in children's best interests; the vast majority of careers require skills and knowledge that are taught in school. In contrast, prisons are largely not for the convicts' best interests but are for the best interests of society. 5. Compulsory education is justified by the Golden Rule; that we ought to treat others as we would like to be treated. Given mental maturity, the vast majority of people would want to be educated despite their immature selves desiring otherwise, so we ought to instigate compulsory education. 6. Children are educated simply by virtue of their age, whereas people are put into prison only if they commit a crime. Rebutals I will now respond to your supposed reasons why schools are distinctly similar to prisons. "School is a place where children are compelled to be, and where their freedom is greatly restricted " far more restricted than most adults would tolerate in their workplaces" Freedom is earned by responsibility, children are not responsible so are naturally going to have their freedom more restricted than adults. And, as I have stated above, home-schooling is an alternative so school is not 'a place where children are compelled to be'. "Attendees are given minimal amounts of recreational or yard time that resembles the format given to inmates in jail Whilst this is true, restriction of recreational time is for very different reasons. In schools, recreational time is limited to actually ensure that the child is being educated, whereas inmates' recreational time is limited as part of the punitive nature of prison. If prison recreational time was not restricted then it would become considerably less unappealing, which is counter-intuitive considering the deterrent nature of prisons. "The children are removed from their loving parents and put under the control of teacher-wardens who may not love them, care for them, or simply even have the time to pay attention to them. They are stopped from being a free and free-spirited child. They are told to keep quiet. They are told to obey the rules. They are told to march from classroom cell to classroom cell every 50 minutes to study different subjects that may mean nothing to them." Firstly, parents consent to sending their children to school, it is not as if they are dragged away kicking and screaming. Secondly, if school stopped children from being free-spirited then the vast majority of children would not be free-spirited. However, I have been in school since the age of five and have not been made less 'free-spirited', and I could say the same for pretty much all of my school-friends. Thirdly, most schools do not enforce 'marching' down corridors or anything militaristic like that. Lastly, the fact that subjects may mean nothing to certain pupils does not mean that they should not be taught. Virtually nobody liked mathematics when I was 10 years old and I could have honestly said that maths meant nothing to me, yet the mathematical skills I was taught are invaluable to my current life. "Attendees are given a specific time frame in which they are 'allowed' to eat, just as inmates in jail." This is for the same reason as recreation time is restricted. Besides, few schools would actually restrict eating periods to such an extent that one could not finish what they had to eat. "Both environments have an authoritarian structure" Which is no different to the vast majority of offices, building sites or any other adult place of work. The authoritarian structure is necessary in order to ensure efficient work and (in the case of schools) learning. "Prisons and schools have guards" They do? In the UK most schools do not have guards. If they exist in the USA, I can only suppose that this is for the protection of children from potential school-massacres, not to keep the children from escaping like it is the case in prisons. "Students and inmates are required to adhere to a dress code." Again, this cannot account for all schools. Besides, even if both schools and prisons have dress codes does not mean that they are analogous to each other. This is because many institutions have dress codes such as magistrate courts; it would be absurd to assert that courts are like prisons because they both happen to have a dress code. "Both inmates and students are forced to walk in lines" In the few schools that actually enforce this, it is for practical reasons (avoiding congestion in corridors). In prisons it is for security reasons. "Both inmates and students can be searched without permission." True, but this is a safety measure and not enough of a comparison to assert that schools are analogous to prisons. "The actual existence of a 'school to prison pipeline" You do not justify your point, could I at least look at your sources here? I will now pass over to my opponent. (1)http://www.britannica.com... (2)http://www.purposeofschool.com... (3)http://news.bbc.co.uk...