Some Miss the Rebellious Years in the Prison School System

Recently, I've been carefully meditating on the prison school system and the adolescent rebellion that is common in mainstream society, as well as the difference between those who are glad those years of sin and rebellion are behind them and those who miss them with a yearning to be able to go back.

These reflections are a result of a lot of comments over the years by various individuals about missing public school. Well, I am one who can't imagine what is wrong in the head of someone who would actually miss being locked away in an institution for eight plus hours a day, five days a week, where you are made to sit in desks and be force-fed information you may or may not care about or of which may or may not be true, where you are punished for talking or questioning and for needing to visit the toilet, where you are not allowed to keep water or chew gum or eat a snack or, or or...

I've noticed a common theme, though, among most people who miss those days. They miss things like the memories of cheating on school work, sneaking this or that, and getting away with numerous other things. In other words, they miss themselves and their fellow peers all acting in rebellion with each other and getting a kick out of it. Interesting, I thought. Then I thought of the many in prisons who actually enjoy being there, because they have criminal minds, and they enjoy fighting, stealing, doing drugs, engaging in fornication, etc. inside the prison walls. These are the same things that are increasing in public schools. Even when locked away, they get away with evil.

I chose to do a quick research on people who actually enjoy an adult prison, and a blog with an article on the child and adolescent prison school system caught my eye. I agree very much with his post.

I've for many years called the public school system a prison. There is no freedom and no joy in learning, and so the love of learning dies in most people by the time they finish their sentence. Thank God I survived. I always loved learning and exploring, and I feel as if I was VERY robbed of precious time during those years. I also was not spending my adult-training years learning beside my mother how to be an adult woman. Instead, I spent my time being force-fed repeated basics and then nonsense that I would never use in my life, and then getting in trouble with my peers, both in and out of school.

So then I was thrown into the world with a major handicap, plus I'd been morally defiled. By God's grace, I chose to live as a truth-seeker, ever-growing in knowledge, and I chose to keep my children at home where they can function normally, learning in a normal environment.  They learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and they learn everything else by asking and exploring and reading.  They learn to follow the law of God, and they go with me to places so that they can learn how to do things in the real world.  When they enter their teen/adolescent years, they should be ready to start their adult training, beside the parent of the same sex. 

My adolescent years, just like the adolescent years of most people in this nation, are stained terribly by SIN and REBELLION.  I remember in my elementary school years, my best friend and I were called "Goody Two Shoes" and were often persecuted for being studious and well-behaved.  As we entered our adolescent years, things became much more difficult.  We were under tremendous pressure to "be cool," and to be cool among your peers, you had to be bad.  Adolescents dishonor their parents, fight and say hateful things to others (some even kill others), abuse food and drugs, engage in sexually immoral behavior, steal, lie and cheat, and are never satisfied with what they already have. 

Oh, I feel just AWFUL about my adolescent years.  It's a time I want to ERASE from my memory.  I sure do NOT want to return to those days of imprisonment and sin. 

The public school system really is much like the prison system, even down to the poor quality food.  Just as criminals in our society are looked upon as "cool" if they've done time in prison, and the more they've done, the "cooler" they are, adult sinners of my generation and the one that followed crave the time of crime once again.  They look on those days as "the good ol' days," but most of us who have turned to God look back on those imprisoned and sinful years and loathe them.  We remember our sins, and we remember being locked up, and we are glad to have been set free.