Blog Post #3: The classroom has always been the laboratory where society tests its beliefs about children.

Texts

Khan, The Broken Model Chapter 2
Short History of American School (youtube.com/watch?v=OUkeXs2cSJI&ab_channel=ClassDismissedMovie)

Prince EA video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8)

You will never look at the school system the same (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D2pFlIzzIhc)  

Traditional classroom structure

(Students seated in rows facing a single instructor reflect a model built for order and uniform direction rather than individualized learning.)

Introduction:

A popular spoken word video, I Sue the School System by Prince Ea, Video referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8 argues that school feels more like a factory than a place built for human growth. While not an academic source, it captures a frustration many students recognize: being measured by one pace, one method, and one definition of success. This idea becomes clearer when looking at the historical explanation in A Short History of American School and the structural critique in Khan’s Chapter 2. Together, the assigned texts show that this feeling is not random. It comes from how the education system was originally designed. 

Argument Statement

Modern American schooling still operates on an industrial framework that values efficiency and control over human development. Because of this, many students are not failing school, but school is failing to recognize the many ways young people actually learn and grow.

Beginning: Where the Model Came From

The video explains that public schooling in the United States was designed during a time when society needed organized workers. Schools adopted factory structures: bells, strict schedules, separated subjects, age grouping, and behavioral expectations. The purpose was predictability and order. Students were trained to follow directions, complete tasks, and move on command.

Khan expands this idea by arguing that these structures did not disappear. They became normalized. What we now call “good student behavior” is often just alignment with those original industrial expectations. The system rewards students who adapt to the structure rather than adapting to students themselves. 

Industrial era schooling

(Early public schooling developed during industrialization, adopting structures like schedules, bells, and grouped pacing to promote efficiency and predictability.)

Middle: How the Model Functions Today

Chapter 2 describes how grading, tracking, and standard pacing continue the sorting process. Students who match the school’s preferred learning style are labeled advanced. Students who do not are labeled struggling. The issue is not intelligence but compatibility with the model.

The video reinforces this by showing how standardization became tied to fairness. Treating everyone the same was considered equal, even though students start from very different places. As a result, curiosity and creativity are often secondary to compliance and speed.

In youth programs outside school, we often see the opposite. Students who struggle academically participate, lead, and excel once choice and relationships exist. This shows ability was always present but hidden by structure.

Standardized tests / grading      

(Standardized grading compares students against a single benchmark, often measuring conformity to the model rather than depth of understanding.)

End: What This Means for Education

Both texts suggest education should shift from sorting to supporting. Instead of asking students to fit the system, the system should expand to fit human development. Multiple ways of learning, demonstrating knowledge, and engaging should be normal rather than exceptions.

Connections

This connects to ideas of youth voice and youth choice in youth development work. When young people help shape their environment, participation increases. It also connects to discussions about culturally responsive teaching, where learning begins with student identity rather than uniform expectations.

Connections to Other Course Ideas

This discussion connects directly to our earlier conversations about deficit thinking. When the structure of schooling is treated as neutral or normal, students who struggle within it are often labeled as lacking ability, motivation, or discipline instead of questioning whether the environment itself was designed for a narrow type of learner.

It also connects to the reading on colorblindness. In the same way that claiming not to see race can preserve existing inequalities, school rules that appear neutral often privilege certain communication styles, behaviors, and cultural norms. Because they are presented as universal expectations rather than cultural preferences, they become difficult to challenge even when they consistently disadvantage specific groups of students.

This also relates to our discussions about power and privilege in educational spaces. The Prussian model described by Khan did not only organize learning but organized people into roles. When schools sort students through tracking, grading, and discipline, they can reinforce social hierarchies rather than disrupt them.

To better understand where these expectations originated, this overview explains how the factory model still shapes classroom routines and expectations:
https://www.edutopia.org/master-classroom

Seeing the historical roots helps explain why modern classrooms still prioritize order, productivity, and compliance, even when educational goals claim to value creativity and individual growth.

Personal Reflection

In afterschool spaces I see students who are labeled disruptive during the day become leaders when given autonomy. They collaborate, solve problems, and stay engaged for long periods of time. That contrast makes it clear that motivation is not missing. The environment determines whether it appears.

Reading and watching these texts shifted my thinking from asking how to fix students to asking how to redesign systems. If school continues to measure success by obedience to structure, many capable young people will continue to feel unsuccessful. Education should cultivate people, not just organize them.

 

(When autonomy and relationships are emphasized, student engagement and leadership frequently increase outside traditional classroom structures.)

Conclusion

A short video clip referencing industrial leaders such as John D. Rockefeller argues that schools were designed to produce workers rather than independent thinkers. (This great video I don’t want a nation of Thinkers) After examining A Short History of American School and Khan’s The Broken Model, that statement feels less like a dramatic claim and more like a simplified description of a historical pattern. The structure of schooling, from pacing to standardization, reflects organizational needs from another era that still shape classrooms today.

This sorting function also helps explain why exclusionary discipline has become normalized. When a system is built around uniform behavior and productivity, students who do not align with those expectations are often removed rather than supported. In this way, schools can unintentionally signal who is prepared for participation in society and who is pushed out of it. The conversation about the school to prison pipeline resonates here because it highlights the consequences of a model focused more on managing people than developing them.

Understanding this shifts the conversation away from blaming students toward questioning whether the system itself needs to evolve so learning can prioritize thinking, growth, and human development. 

After looking at the history and structure of schooling, the issue may not simply be that the system is outdated, but that it still performs a social function. If schools were originally designed to organize and sort people, then many modern reforms attempt to improve outcomes while keeping the same structure intact. This helps explain why change feels slow. The model is not only about learning, it is also about managing expectations, behavior, and opportunity. Until reform questions the structure itself rather than just the methods inside it, the same patterns will likely continue even as teaching practices evolve.

Discipline/surveillance

Asked ChatGPT : What will the school-to-prison pipeline look like in the next 5 years based on where we are headed politically and economically? show with visual   

ANSWER: "Over the next five years, the future of the school-to-prison pipeline in the U.S. will likely be shaped by a mix of forces: If punitive politics and economic cuts dominate, exclusionary discipline and school justice contacts may remain high, If reform energy grows and investments in supportive approaches increase, the pipeline could weaken and redirect more students toward educational success. Real outcomes will probably differ across states and districts depending on local policy priorities.

Chat