Panopticism and Education

Jeremy Bentham’s proposed system called the Panopticon is evident in most schools. In most of the schools, there are always teachers, faculty, and staff milling around. Students are watched closely by all faculty through both direct observation and through video surveillance. Students tend to fear getting in trouble from school administration so students tend be on good behavior. This idea of fear of punishment comes from Panopticon. The prisoners do not know when they are being watched, and who is watching them, so they behave like they are being constantly watched. In schools, the prisoners are the students and the guards are the faculty and staff. The Panopticon is applied to schools because, like prisons, the students need to be kept under control.

In schools, ideas associated with the Panopticon are evident. I know that in my school we had one particular religion teacher who was older and very strict in her ways. She is a nun and seemed to always be yelling at someone at some point. Most people feared her because of how strict she is. If she was having a bad day, you should know enough to avoid her at all costs. She would yell at you from down the hall to help her or to discipline you. She seemed to be everywhere at once and sometimes, you could never get away. One time at school, I was walking down the hallway with a classmate and she called me, by my sister’s name of course, and asked me, no told me, to help her. I hadn’t even seen her come out of her room! As a student, you cannot always be aware of who is watching. Another example in school is at assemblies. Everyone is filed into bleachers, with teachers scattered around. Most of these assemblies get pretty boring, so you tend to talk to one another, etc. Once, one of the students was talking to another and a teacher from across the gym came over to yell at her. These both apply to the Panopticon because it enforces the idea that you are constantly watched, even if you don’t know it. This nun and teachers were, in essence, the guards, and we were all prisoners. You did not always see them, but they seemed to always be able to see you or at least tract you down. Panopticon’s idea of fear and punishment is also seen in schools. In the Panopticon, the prisoners behaved because they feared retribution. The students fear getting in trouble, so most behave while in school. I believe that the Panopticon is seen throughout schools because people believe students can be controlled by using these ideas. The ideas of constant surveillance and fear of punishment lead students to behave since they never know who is watching.