Lets take a second to compare a pysch ward and Framingham High School

            Comparing a psych ward and Framingham High School is not exactly the most common topic for discussion because most people would not think of comparing them and pointing on their similarities. How could a psych ward possibly share any similarities with Framingham High School? Simply by looking at their scheduled routines and their high and low authoritative figures.
            In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest" by Ken Kesey, the patients are forced follow the schedule within the psych ward. Every day, the patients are expect to fulfill precise requirements throughout the day during specific time periods. With lack of obedience, the patients in the ward are punished. Each patient is forced to wake up every day at four thirty and continuing following through with the rest of the requirements throughout the day. Similarily, within Framingham High School, the students are given set scheduled classes which they are expected to attend or they get a cut or absence. Though some students are able to pick some of their classes, there are set requirements a student needs to fulfill in order to graduate. Unless a student is sick and is not attending school, they have to be in homeroom before the bell at 7:25. Every day the schedule is the same and the classes dismiss promptly at their set times. With lack of  fulfillment to any of these expectations, the students are punished.
            In both, the psych ward and the school administration, they have low authoritative figures. In the psych ward, the patients would be considered the low powered figures. The patients are expected to follow through with their set routines or they are punished. Of course the patients do not want to be punished, so, they choose to follow the rules. In the psych ward they have two types of patients, chronics and acutes. The doctors and nurses decide what type of patient a person is and then expect them to follow those rules. The acutes are given slightly more freedom because they are supposed to only be temporary. In Framingham High School, the students are the low powered figures. Throughout the day, the students are given their set schedule and are punished every time they do not fulfill their expectations. Students who do not wish to be punished choose to follow the rules within the school. Students that are known to follow the rules, are given more leniency in school compared to the students who are known to act out and rebel.
           To have low authoritative figures, there must be high powered figures. In the psych ward, the Big Nurse would be considered the high authority because she controls the schedule and the punishments for the patients who fail to obey the rules.  The Big Nurse intimidates the patients because she is in control of the patient's fate. If a patient disobeys the rules, the big nurse has the power to physically and mentally destroy them. Like the Big Nurse, the principal and vice-principals of Framingham High School are known as the high powered figures. They deal with students to lack obedience and they decide their punishment. Though they do not take as drastic measures as big nurse, they make sure the students know what they did was wrong and will not fail to obey the rules again. Comparing the psych ward and Framingham High School mainly comes down to how the high authority control the low authority figures for lack of obeying a daily routine.

Is it cured?

           Some acts were performed on patients in hope of curing them of an illness. The question is, were they really cured? Or did the symptoms just disappear for a period of time? Acts such as performing a lobotomy on a person was used in hope of curing a person of their mental illness they had. If a person acted slightly off or did some unusual actions, the doctors concluded the patient needed a lobotomy. After recieving a lobotomy, the patient seemed to act more "normal" and less disruptive. The families and doctors of these patients believed they were finally cured because of the lobotomy. The patient kept this "normal" act up for a small period of time, but after a few months they were back to their old disorderly ways. By returning back to their ways, the patients proved that the lobotomy did not cure a patient of the disease, but only allowed the symptoms to fade out for awhile. Once the patients started to act up again, the doctors decided another lobotomy was needed to be performed. Sometimes a lobotomy was performed on a person three or four times if necessary. Though, they continued to perform this act on a person, the patient still returned back to their troublesome selves.
           Not only did a lobotomy prove to doctors and families that most of the acts performed on people could not cure them, other actions like shock therapy was also used to try and cure a person but failed. Even though these severe actions failed continuously, doctors kept trying to use them to help a patient. Doctors portrayed that these actions cured patients so it was a recommendation to help a person. To cure someone means giving them a successful remedial treatment for their disease. Stopping the symptoms does not mean the disease is gone, it just means for a period of time, the symptoms are not currently present. So by saying these treatments would cure the illness, the doctors lied to the patients and families.