"There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison"

William Glasser's quote, "There are just 2 places in the world where time takes precedence over the task to be done. School and prison", uses a thought-provoking critique of institutional structures and their treatment of time. At its core, Glasser's observation highlights a commonality in between schools and prisons: both are systems where the passage of time is often prioritized over the real tasks or goals that individuals are there to accomplish.

In academic settings, trainees follow rigid schedules where the amount of time invested in class often eclipses whether the knowing goals have actually been fulfilled. The system insists on a set duration for knowing, no matter each trainee's pace and comprehension level. This one-size-fits-all method can lead to disengagement as the focus wanders from authentic discovering to merely finishing appointed time periods. Trainees may be pressed to move on to new subjects before fully comprehending the old, or they might find themselves stalled, waiting for the next stage dictated by a clock rather than proficiency of material.

Likewise, in prisons, sentences are mostly time-based, with prisoners serving fixed durations despite rehabilitation progress or private development they may have attained. The penal system often emphasizes serving time over the more nuanced goal of rehab and reintegration into society. The success of jail time is determined by the clock instead of individual transformation or societal preparedness.

Glasser's quote recommends a need to redefine institutional success in schools and prisons. For education, it suggests a shift towards competency-based methods where success is determined by understanding and skills gained rather than hours invested. For the penal system, it prompts a re-evaluation of justice, concentrating on genuine rehab and minimized recidivism.

Overall, this statement functions as a review of how society's structured structures might accidentally focus on procedural time over meaningful results, triggering a call for reform in both instructional and correctional institutions to focus more on the real function of the experience within these facilities.