Psych Ward? Prison?...School?

   In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it is easily seen that Big Nurse's psych ward is run with the complete precision of a well-engineered machine. If one looks into the modern world and our current setting in school, it is possible to find similar characteristics of such a precise facilitation within the school administration itself. The first obvious characteristics are the structures of the settings' hierarchies. Big Nurse demonstrates the head authority figure within her psych ward just as Principal Welch is known as the head authority figure of the school. The psych ward's hierarchy is followed by the Three Black Boys and the nurses. This can be compared the school's hierarchy of vice principals and teachers, one role to provide discipline and the Head's will and another role to help facilitate the daily processes of such large institutions. In terms of both of these settings, the students of the school can be seen as the patients of Big Nurse's psych ward: under the authority of all the characters within the facilities administration systems.

    Big Nurse's main role in her psych ward is her responsibility to enforce her policies upon the patients. In the school setting, the entire administrative staff and teachers also enforce the school's policies and rules. Big Nurse often reminds patients of her policies, especially when a patient strays from policy parameters. Similar to the psych ward, the school staff frequently reminds students of the school's rules when it seems fit or when a rule is broken or in jeopardy of being broken. Through this simple comparison, it can be easily seen how a school can come to represent a psych ward, or a similarly operated institution *cough* prison *cough*

   Finally, one more characteristic shared among school and Big Nurse's psych ward: no one can leave unless specified and everyone has certain tasks they are meant to perform. Although the conditions of students' imprisonment in school vary from a patient's 24 hour stay in the ward, both students and patients are not allowed to leave their institutions without permission. Patients in Big Nurse's ward are allowed to leave when they are released into the outer world while students are only allowed to leave when they are dismissed. Furthermore, the patients in the psych ward must perform certain tasks just as students are also required to work. Patients are expected to take their medication, attend meetings, and follow the order of activities of the day. Similarly, students are expected to attend class and follow the periods of the day without causing a ruckus. This proves to be the third, but probably not the last similarity between the school and Big Nurse's psych ward.