Oh no!
I challenged authority in many ways during junior high and high school. It helped a lot that I’d, A) usually do it in small ways, and B) had a Mom who was a teacher in the same school district.
7th grade English/Social Studies, I was assigned to the back of the class, with my back right up against the wall. Being that far back, I’d stand whenever I wanted to see the board, a movie, slides, whatever. The teachers (there were 2) had a conference with my Mom that I wasn’t respecting their authority by always standing in the back of the class.
She looked at them for a long moment, realized they were serious, and laughed.
“You’re teaching a classroom full of 60 students. You put him in the back of the class, where he has to look nearly 40 feet to a blackboard. And you’re mad because he’s trying to pay attention? Change the way you are teaching the class.”
Same class, much later in the year. I’d discovered that the 2 teachers were the most boring teachers I’d ever had. And they taught together, 2 hours per day.
I was bored. I was reaching the point of slugging a Mountain Dew before class just to try to stay awake. Finally, I started reading my own books during class (remember, I sat in the back). Mr S, the social studies teacher realized it (about 2 weeks later), and sent me to the dean. The dean called a P/T conference, and my Mom came in. Mr S explained the problem, and my Mom laughs at him again.
“You’re teaching Native American History. He’s reading a book on the customs and traditions of the Lakota Indians. What more do you want?”
“But he’s not paying attention to the lecture!” sputtered Mr. S.
“I’ve listened to your lectures! You’re boring the students to death! Besides, he already knows everything you’re going to teach. He finished reading the textbook 3 months ago.”
Mr S. turned red, the dean laughed, and I went back to class. And reading during lectures. (As an aside, I’d only cracked the cover of the book about 5 minutes before. I’d just finished Terry Brook’s Elfstones of Shanarra and didn’t have any other “fun” books with me.)
My Mom stood up for me like that 4 times in school. It was FAR more likely that any poor conduct would reach her ears during class, and I’d be clobbered when I got home.
Eli
folds arms, taps foot
Okay, well, we were going to have a pizza party at the end of the thread, but now Risha has ruined it for everyone!
One more where I offended a teacher, and got away with it.
11th grade Math. I spent the first semester on the ragged edge of failing standard calculus. The school decided to move me to the “slow calculus” class. I walked in the first day to discover Mr. Mork was teaching the class.
Mr. Mork and I went way back. We hated each other from our first run-in in 9th grade. 2 of my 3 detentions came from him. I had to re-take Driver’s Ed because he failed me (He was the head of the Driver’s Ed department). My best friend had filed assault complaints on him for both verbal and phsical abuse during his class.
Anyway, he walked in that first day, and I packed my bags. There was no way I was going to take a class from that asshole. Got up, and headed towards the door.
“Where the f**k are you going?” thundered Mr. Mork.
“Down to the Dean’s office. I’m not taking a class from you.” I replied.
“F**k that! You get your ass in your seat, or I’ll kick it there!”
“Go f**k yourself. I’m going to the Dean.”
Got down to the Dean the same time that Mr Mork got the Dean on the phone.
Mr Mork and the Dean talked. The Dean hung up, and I told him I wanted a new class. He said “No, you’ve been assigned to Mr. Mork’s class.”
“Call my Mom. I’ll skip class before I take a class from Mr. Mork.”
The Dean called my Mom in her class, telling her that I’d left class after swearing at a teacher. Then the Dean hands me the phone.
“Did you swear at a teacher?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Shaking at this point, because she’s pissed. Remember, she’s a teacher, and been one since before I was born.
“You’d better have a damn good reason why…”
“It was Mr. Mork, my new math teacher.”
Silence…
“Let me talk to the Dean.”
They talk for several minutes, with the Dean listening and going “Uh-huh…OK…I see…”
They hang up, and he says “OK, you’ll be back in your old class tomorrow.”
Nothing was ever said about that incident again. I know that the principal, my Mom, several other parents & Mr Mork met several times during the year, and Mr. Mork took an early retirement after that year. But I don’t know if I was part of that decisions, but I like to think I was!
Eli
Had you made a passing grade? What became of your friend’s complaints?
Awwww, Duuuuung Beeeeeeeeetle… pout
Many, many years ago, I was an engineering student. The physics department of the university would not allow formula sheets, but they did allow graphing calculators. I objected to this because formulas and other information could be entered in these calculators, giving an unfair advantage to student who could afford them. I spoke to the head of the physics department. I talked to the students’ affairs office. I wrote an editorial to the schools paper. Finally, the department relented and allowed formula sheets.
What do you think about rule-makers?
I don’t think the administration realised how this affected the poorer students.
What do you think about rule-followers?
Many fellow students supported me. I was the only one that had the nerve to say something out loud.
Have your opinions on this subject been different at different points in your life?
No. New technology is great, but I don’t think it should be used as a barrier.
One time a mod here warned me for something, and I said “fuck YOU, pal! I dare you to ban me!”
Next time I might feel defiant enough to type it instead.
When I was in Jr. High I gave up saying the pledge of allegience. It wasn’t the “under god” thing. Not that I cared for that either. I just don’t think Americans should have to swear a loyalty oath. Just not what we do. I love my country. On my own terms. And I certainly don’t believe in making kids swear oaths before they know what they’re saiying…just a a ritual. What does that really mean then?
Why did you do it? See above
What was the outcome? Got called to the principals office. He said I didn’t have to say anything but I had to stand up. I stood and never stoped reading my book.
What do you think about rule-makers?
That they were fools. They didn’t care about what I really believed, they certainly didn’t take the time to tell me why I should pledge loyalty to my country, they didn’t explain why she who does not want to pledge her loyalty should stand anyway. Didn’t care about the point (if there was one) just that …hey! One of their students is out of step, and as long as she pretends to be in step, well everything is fine.
What do you think about rule-followers?
That they weren’t thinking, one way or another. And these were my fellow honors students. I asked them about their religion…why they Catholic, why Jewish. What did they really think?
3.9 GPAs to my 3.2 and they couldn’t come up with a good ansewer
I have to say alot of the thinker spent more time getting good grades than thinking
Oh, all right…but no flavored crust!
**Eliphalet ** reminds me of one of mine. In junior high English the teacher had us watching an extremely boring series of videos of the story of King Arthur. They stretched out over the span of like 2 weeks. I went to the library, got a book of the stories, read it, and slept in class the whole second week. My junior high was so bad that no one even mentioned it, and I got an A on the test.
Yay! dances
[hijack] This is why I loved my 8th grade science teacher. I had science for first period, when the whole school said the pledge. About 3 months into the year, after reciting the pledge, the teacher asked us all to start thinking about the pledge and what it says and what it means. And then told us we didn’t have to say it if we didn’t agree with it. Throughout the year, several students quit participating in the pledge. [/hijack]
Rules are meant to be challenged. I do that all the time where I work and am considered a troublemaker because of it. I consider providing accurate and properly caveated information to be an important part of my job and it aggravates me that we have so many ‘rules’ that allow us to hide what we want to hide. My constant fight for changing things to provide better information is always making other people in my program angry, because it also means better tracking of the work they are or are not getting accomplished. I’m in a constant fight with management over the bean counting they want and they way they want to do it. I comply with the rules, but I work to get them improved.
I’ve always been considered a troublemaker. It’s because everybody expects me to carry the banner for our ‘team’ and I somehow get talked into doing it and taking the shit that rolls down hill because of it. Maybe I should quit being the rebel.
Why did you do it? Because someone should.
What was the outcome? Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
What do you think about rule-makers? Sometimes they are goodhearted and just have blinders on to the bigger picture, sometimes they have a little kingdom they are trying to maintain. Depends on their motivations for the rule.
What do you think about rule-followers? I think that you should chose your battles. If the rules are right or good enough, there’s no reason not to follow them. I frequently wish the people who don’t like the rules, but can’t bring themselves to break them, would leave me out of their fight instead of asking me to be their champion. Once you have me convinced of something, I’m usually right there taking a stand–my co-workers have learned to take advantage of this. 
Have your opinions on this subject been different at different points in your life? No, I’ve always been a troublemaker. 
I have a bunch many because I just don’t care about most things by nature and I am prone to doing bizarre things.
The most widespread was that I slept through high school. I don’t mean that metaphorically. My parents got a divorce when I was 14 and I just wanted to be out of the house from that point forward. I got a job at the local supermarket and worked whenever I could which meant at least 7 days a week because I worked my ass off. After a while, I volunteered for floor cleaning duty which lasted at least until 2 am on Monday and Wednesday nights. I forced myself to school every morning and promptly fell asleep in home room. From, there it was just matter of musical classrooms to sleep in. It was a small school and I could usually schedule a two hour block in the same class to avoid having to be woken up to change classes.
It was an interesting experiment on what happens when two immovable forces meet. I literally could not stay awake yet my teachers tried to force me to do so by screaming and dropping books next to me. I even caught a ruler a time or ten. What are they supposed to do if they can’t make you stay awake? I have a sleeping problem (though not narcolepsy) that I am working on to this day.
When it was all said and done, not only was I the only kid in my class to go to college, but it was a good one as well and I ended up at an Ivy for grad school? Life really is 10% inspiration and 90% incapacitation.
Can I just say I love this thread, and that my mother was the one who gave me the “Question Athority” sticker for my school notebook. My mom rulz. Don’t have to defy autority, but you have to question it. On a daily basis.
Here’s one from the workplace.
This will be somewhat abbreviated. The full story is really long and involved, and requires a lot of background details. But here’s the gist.
A few months ago, I told a vice president, in a meeting room full of his flunkies, that he was basically full of shit.
Embarrassed at being called out on his nonsense, he began trying to have me fired. He started by throwing a tantrum at my boss’s boss, who was director level. (My boss was out on medical leave and unavailable for consultation.)
My director immediately caved in to the screaming executive, and passed the threat along to me.
I nodded quietly, and then escalated elsewhere in the organization. Basically, my director had no clue what I was working on, or why it was in fact true that the vice president was indeed full of shit. The director was wholly unaware of the history around this executive. More significantly, he was entirely clueless about my central role in a major corporate project that was coming to fruition at more or less that exact moment, which means he would have been blindsided, were he to approve my sudden termination, by the enormous negative impact of his decision on the larger organization. On neither subject did he bother to do any homework; he saw a political opportunity, tossing a staffer over the side to placate an executive, and he leaped at it. I knew he was an idiot, so I merely sent an appropriate notification about the situation up the organizational chain.
By the end of the next day, the original vice president had been forcefully slapped down by two other executives, and my director was hiding in his office, not answering the phone or opening the door.
My director lost his job a month later. His ignorance and incompetence, as highlighted by his failure to manage my situation properly, was a major contributor. He wasn’t fired; he was merely transferred to the black hole of “special projects” where the higher-ups could keep him on a short leash. His days are numbered.
Me, I got a big fat stinkin’ raise. And I’m about to get another one, plus a bonus.
I don’t consider myself a rebel. I’m an organization player, for the most part. But that doesn’t mean I’m a doormat.
In middle school, they would warehouse all the kids in the gym before school started in the mornings. It was always real loud and crazy and not too comfortable a place to read or do homework. But the rule-makers said we weren’t allowed to leave the gym until 8:30. I obeyed the rule like a good little girl in the sixth grade, but by seventh I had had it.
Out of the blue, I started sneaking into the building and using a teacher’s room as a hide-out. She was my math teacher and was always super nice to me, but I never asked her if I could use her room as a refuge. I just did it and she just allowed me. What was funny was that whenever other kids snuck in, she would put them out but not me. This continued through the eighth grade. By then, all the teachers accepted that I was allowed in the building because of my connection to this one teacher, and my presence was never questioned.
Why did you do it?
Because I hated being in the gym. I didn’t think the rule was inherently stupid or bad. I just didn’t like that it had to affect me.
What was the outcome?
I don’t think I’m an unusually sensitive or delicate person, but I do think the calm space was theraputic. I didn’t have the best of times during middle school, but breaking that one little rule made for some pleasant memories (for instance, I was always front and center for the latest faculty gossip!) And I’m still close to this teacher, so I made a friend.
What do you think about rule-followers?
I often wondered why more of the kids didn’t break the rule, since I had found it so easy to do. But then I realized that they probably didn’t see the situation as imprisonment, as I did. They probably liked the gym.
I think while some situations definitely call for raging against the system, most rules are logical and well-meaning. So I think people who challenge rules indiscriminately are annoying. But I think people should be brave enough to at least look for loopholes or special allowances when doing so won’t inconvenience others. People who don’t do this are also annoying.
Have your opinions on this subject been different at different points in your life?
No, but I have to admit that I find the kind of rule-breaking that I exhibited (I’m too special to stay in the gym with all those loud-mouth losers) to be irritating when others do it.
In high school, the first week of every year my friends and I always read our student hand-books cover to cover, memorizing it to the letter, and finding potential loopholes in the rules. These always came in very handy throughout the year.
For example, the penalties for sexual harrassment were as follows:
first offense - letter sent to parent or guardian
second offense - 2 day suspension
third offense - 2 week suspension
One of my friends was over 18 at the time. He had gone to the trouble to register himself as his own legal guardian as far as the school was concerned. So, because it would be wrong to let the opportunity pass, he walked up to the hottest girl in the entire school and copped a feel in front of half the lunchroom (including a few teachers). Needless to say, we were extremely amused when a few days later he received a complaint letter in the mail about himself.
My boss, earlier this week.
I work in an ICFDD (intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled). She was on my wing for one reason or another and saw that a resident’s bed had bedrails on it.
HER: He has rails on his bed. I don’t like bedrails, they’re a human rights violation. Take them off.
ME: They wouldn’t be on there if the Human Rights Comittee hadn’t authorized them. I can grab his chart and find the authorization…
HER: But he could wedge a limb in the rails and break it. They’re dangerous.
ME: He has Huntington’s Disease and jerks around a lot. He could fall off the bed and hurt himself.
HER: I want them taken off. Call Maintenance.
ME: I can’t do that. They wouldn’t be on there if the Human Rights Comittee hadn’t authorized them. If you want them off, convene another Human Rights Comittee meeting and bring the matter up.
HER: I’d rather avoid all that and just get them taken off. Call Maintenance.
ME: Not without Human Rights Comittee approval.
HER: [stares menacingly for a minute] OK, e-mail the department heads. huffs
The meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday. The rails are still on the bed.
My first thought was, “I’m like the world’s biggest suck up and have never defied authority, ever.” But then I tried to think of “authority” in a different way.
See, I never talked back to teachers. There didn’t seem to be a point. Their rules seemed rational and appropriate to me. I thought kids who talked back seemed like idiots.
But in a sense I defied a kind of social order. I was not a popular or wealthy kid, I was just one of the overacheivers–and at my school, most overachievers knew their place. They didn’t start any shit with kids who had more power than them–they feared retribution, which could be ugly.
I just never felt afraid of them. I never bought into the idea that I had less value or my ideas were less valid. I remember countless times I bawled kids out publically that nobody would ever dare challenge.
One particularly memorable experience I was sitting in history class and the resident dumbasses started drawing shit on the chalkboard and calling each other fags and homos–even the history teacher was laughing. I had a lot of gay friends who attended that school, and nothing can really piss me off quite like homophobia. I stood up and walked over and said something along the lines of, “What the fuck are you doing? Don’t you realize how hurtful that shit is? Do you realize there could be someone sitting in this class right now that you are fucking torturing without even realizing it and you know damn well you don’t have a problem with gay people, you are just saying this shit to look cool??” (Okay, maybe without the swearing, but you get the idea.)
And these kids, these fucking gods of the school district, actually flushed and stammered and said they didn’t really mean it and apologized. Nobody else outside their social clique could really get away with it the way I could. It was because they knew I didn’t buy the social hierarchy shit and they knew I was right. I was right when I chewed them out for treating other kids like shit, too. And they respected me for it.
So I guess that’s defying authority in a way. The only other time was when I deliberately skipped the Honor Society Initiation to go out on a date my senior year. We would have had sex in my car if we hadn’t gotten caught by the park security. Awesome.
**
Why did you do it?**
Because it was the right thing to do.
What was the outcome?
Respect.
What do you think about rule-makers?
Generally well-meaning, sometimes fail miserably.
What do you think about rule-followers?
Depends on whether the rules are stupid. I’m a rule follower, generally.
Have your opinions on this subject been different at different points in your life?
The older I get, the less I respect the wisdom of others to decide what is and is not right for me.