Quote Originally Posted by CDNSushi View Post
Telling people to simply follow the rules because no one is forcing them to participate is such an awful cop-out. All what that does, is it simply sends the message that the rules are correct, above reproach, and that "authority" should never be questioned, no matter how correct or incorrect it may be. Why, yes. That WOULD make everyone's life a whole lot easier if they didn't have to put up with all these annoying, rebellious teenagers. But I've never been the one to sit with the sheeple, either. I think it's admirable and courageous when people (especially young people) stand up for what they think is right.
I usually agree with this sentiment (trust me, I'm usually the last person to advocate obedience), but I think there's a time and a place for it. This isn't a question of morality or social justice. Refusing to sit at the back of the bus as an act of civil disobedience for the purpose of protesting racial segregation is not quite the same thing as showing up to the prom in a kilt. Let's not make this more than it is.

For one thing, there's a difference between an adult challenging the authority of another adult, and a child challenging the authority of a parent or teacher or other authority figure. Kids should be taught morals and ethics, and should know when an authority figure should be challenged based on that. But encouraging children to challenge authority just for the sake of challenging authority (or because they personally disagree with the rules) is not a good thing. Kids need to be taught to respect their parents' authority, and the authority of other adults who their parents designate - which in this case includes the prom people. Once they're adults, they're free to challenge authority for whatever reason they want. But when they're kids, they first need to learn respect for authority. That's what living in a society means.

Secondly, they need to learn the proper channels for challenging something they disagree with, or that they think is wrong. Showing up to the prom, knowing that one may be breaking the rules, and without having attempted first to kindly ask the question, is not the right way. This kid, just like many others before him who have brazenly shown up to prom wearing something that they knew (or should have known) would likely get them refused, went about it the wrong way. Acts of civil disobedience, trying to cause a stramash, or even doing something that is likely to cause a scene, should never come before a mature, peaceful, and respectful attempt to ask for the rule to be changed.

In other words, this kid had plenty of other more intelligent ways to approach this. Instead, he chose to just show up in a kilt. And then, when refused (as he should have expected he might be), he chose to make a stink in the media about it. If that's the way we're teaching kids to handle themselves, we have some big problems in society.