by Carina Treitl

Created on: October 07, 2008   Last Updated: March 15, 2012

School is a major obstacle that children have to overcome. Not only is it a challenge to learn, study and excel, but it is also about finding one's place in such a community. This can prove to be an extremely difficult and demanding task. It usually impacts on a child much more than learning does. As children find themselves spending the majority of their time in school, they worry about what their peers think of them. The way one acts, speaks, walks, looks, etc. is under scrutiny. No longer is getting high marks in exams and assignments the first priority, nor is following school rules.

Chidren are expected to act in a manner that an authority figure instructs. Such a figure may be a parent, teacher or someone that is older and more experienced than the child. Some children rebel against these authority figures. They want to stand out. Why is disobeying rules and making one's own considered cool? Perhaps it is because it is not a social norm. Children are still in the stage when the environment, media, society and everything else around them play a major role in the way their personality, perspectives and values are shaped.

Doing school work is an instruction. The authority figure, in this case, a teacher, is telling the child what to do. The majority of children would succumb to this controlling gesture and do as they are told. However, the rest would want to stand out and disobey the instruction. This is because they do not want to be controlled and they are sending this message to the teacher. This one selfish act decided upon by the children, impacts on and may influence the ones that have followed the teacher's instruction. Some of the studious children will automatically become curious and therefore join the rebels. When more and more people share a belief or opinion, they become stronger. Thus in this case, resulting in the state of 'cool' becoming the new norm.

There is no longer one group of children, instead there are two. A child will either decide to conform or stand up for what they believe in without being influenced. Either way, the group of children that choose not do school work will grow. There is always that one question which finds itself in one's mind: "What if?" A child being less experienced and developed than an adult would take a leap of faith and put themselves in circumstances which answer this question, yet they may not know that going back is not an option.

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