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

My opponent highlights that home-schooling is often difficult to organise and not always possible. However, it remains legally possible and so long as it does, going to school is not compulsory and so they cannot be compared to prisons. Pro states that home-schooling is illegal in some countries, saying that: 'The debate was not limited to the United States, [so] I will consider this portion of Con's argument to be limited in scope.' However, many of Pro's comparisons are based on the nature of schools in the United States, so I could equally denounce them as limited in scope. Either we agree to be referring to a particular country, or we agree to refer to the schools of the entire world. If the latter is the case (as is inferred by the title of the debate) then the comparisons Pro makes must be the case for schools worldwide. As school attendance is not compulsory in every country, then they cannot be said to be compulsory in the international scope of this debate. Whilst it is true that parents can be convicted for not providing education to their children, this is not unjust. Preventing your child from being correctly educated is tantamount to child abuse; the UN upholds education as a basic human right.(1) Indeed, compulsory elementary education is a human right. (1) My opponent then highlights parents' reasoning for homeschooling: 'concern for the child's safety and welfare' Education actually improves the long term health of those who are educated. (2) 'child has been a victim of bullying' Bullying is prevalent in adult life as well, it is not an issue exclusive to schools. In fact, early experience of bullying can actually help children develop. (3) 'Desire to protect child's individual identity (students are given identity numbers)' The distribution of identity numbers does not remove a child's individual identity. They are not suddenly a mindless zombie simply because they have been given numbers. Employees are also given identification numbers (4) , so it is not a phenomenon exclusive to prisons and schools. 'punishing policies' Again, only if rules are broken. But this is also prevalent in pretty much all institutions. (5) Deterrence Whilst schools punish pupils for wrongdoing; this is partly a deterrent to incite pupils to behave well (which is no bad thing). The actual threat of going to school is not a deterrent (as is the case with jail) , simply punishments that are within it. Detentions may seem similar to jail sentences, but the latter is normally years in length whilst a detention in around an hour; the difference in timescales renders it a poor comparison. My opponent mentions corporal punishment, but it is banned in most of the USA and all of Europe (6). Using my opponent's wording, I will consider this part of the argument 'limited in scope', as the use of corporal punishment is not the norm in most schools. Rehabilitation It is true that a school is trying to change pupils' attitudes, its called education. I agree that punishments for very minor offences can be over-zealous, but the reason that stories such as in Pro's source are sensationalised is that they are anomalous, in most cases discipline increases the standard of education. And, finally, pupils are not prevented from urinating. Protection of society Universal education does the opposite of maintaining class barriers, it allows people at the bottom of society to be successful. Compulsory education is not a prison, it is the way that children can escape the prison of poverty. Social development My opponent states that parents want to protect their children from 'negative socialisation' such as gossiping and meanness. However, these facets of 'negative socialisation' are abundant in adult life, school is necessary to provide the environment where children can learn how to cope with all aspects of socialisation, both positive and negative. Home-schooling can actually leave children unprepared socially for adult life (7). Vocational development Specific courses for vocations come later in adolescence, after pupils are taught the basic academia needed for all walks of life. Whilst jails do offer vocational courses, this is only because jails have educative facilities and not because schools are similar to jails. Millions of Americans work in sweatshops for little money, but this is hardly the fault of compulsory education. They would be even less employable if they were not properly educated. Cognitive development I agree that most people doubt that graduates are ready for the workplace, but if compulsory education was not instigated then they would be even less ready. Emotional development The suffering emotional health of pupils is a necessary evil, as it were, because emotional challenges are required for the emotional development of children. A child who is constantly shielded from emotional rigour whilst growing up will be unprepared for the harsh adult world. Essential Differences "School for 12 years, college for 4 years or more...then you work until you die. Great." Life is what you make it, pessimists may take the above attitude but the truth is that anyone can do anything (within reason). Compulsory education increases the possibilities of one's life. I would argue that most students dislike school currently because 1) they are immature and 2) they take education for granted. Child activists like Malala Yousafzai have risked death to advocate compulsory education (8), which shows that if children were more mature and were aware of its value, they would want to go to school. 'prisoners can be temporarily released from jail.' Yes, but occasions of this are not the norm, whereas school attendance is generally for a limited time of the day. ' Compulsory education requires outside permission and regulation' I'm not quite sure what my opponent means when he states this. ' Traditional education is not compulsory...it is practical and interactive' There is no reason to suggest that compulsory education cannot be practical and interactive. 'the child's crime is apparently free will and independent thought. Also, sentences can be opinions or decisions and the attendees often state they feel like school is a jail. ' The child is not punished for free will or independent thought, so long as they do not break the rules. This is the same in normal society. Also, children are known to make exaggerated claims, so them claiming that a school is like jail is hardly veridical evidence. Also none of them actually know what jail is like, so they cannot make an informed comparison. Whilst freedom is a right, children ought to be raised in accordance to what is best for them even if they do not appreciate it at the time. This is the case for compulsory education; few pupils enjoyed compulsory education at the time, but pretty much all adults accept that is a necessary institution. If children could opt out of education then they would probably enjoy it at first, but they would come to understand the importance of compulsory education and regret leaving it. We, as adults, have a duty to prevent children from making disastrous decisions, even if this limits their freedom to some extent. 'education, eating and recreation can be mutually inclusive.' Not if we want efficient education. Eating whilst being taught is a distraction, and it is much harder to teach a core subject like maths in a recreational sense. keeping children inside one room five days a week is akin to breaking a horse..' The analogy does not work because horses are not naturally part of a society, breaking them brings them into society. However, humans, educated or uneducated, are all part of the society so there is no 'breaking' involved. The evidential fact is that education improves quality of life and so we should educate children. 'the lunch lady took my lunch away and threw it in the garbage." My opponent makes this example, but my point that few schools would do this remains standing because he has not given evidence to suggest that this was not an isolated incident. ' Pat downs by guards,walking in line and uniforms are methods to strip dignity,independence, and free will from attendees -similar to prisoners.' No, these are not used to strip dignity, they are used for pragmatic or security reasons. If they do strip dignity then this a mere subjective side-effect. I've been forced to wear a uniform and walk in line, but my dignity hasn't been 'stripped'. My opponent mentions the existence of a school to prison pipeline, but this is only the case where schools are mismanaged, there is nothing innate about compulsory education that leads to incarceration in prison, any such pipeline is a result from faulty education policy and not the actual concept of compulsory education. To conclude, compulsory education has some similarities with prison, but so do other institutions such as hospitals and offices. They are not similar enough to be metaphorically similar as the title of the debate asserts. (1)http://www.un.org... (2)http://www.nber.org... (3)http://www.dailymail.co.uk... (4)http://en.wikipedia.org... (5)https://www.gov.uk... (6)http://en.wikipedia.org... (7)http://www.middleschool.net... (8)http://www.bbc.co.uk...