What is a combine?

In the book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the psych ward is referred to as a combine several times.  A combine is a machine that is used to harvest grain in the field.  As the combine chops and collects the grain, all the mentally ill are collected and admitted to this hospital.  I do think that McMurphy is just as vulnerable as the other patients because he is admitted to the ward, and that means that he is subjected to all of Nurse Ratched's all her strict rules, policies and abuses that happen on the ward.  The combine has not gotten to McMurphy totally yet, because  he still thinks out side the box.  It hasn't broken his free spirit, and he still dares to defy Nurse Ratched's policies, and wants to break her down.

No, I do not think that a school is similar to a combine.  This is because a school is not meant to break kids down, but to build them up and teach them to improve their knowledge.  Yes a school gathers children together and has certain rules, but they're not meant to harm.  A mental hospital, especially the one in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is similar to a combine because of the Nurse Ratched, and her goals as a leader.  She was trying to emasculate the men and make herself over power them, so that is why it could be considered a combine, but a school is not run with the same intentions, so I don't see any similarity.