Rules

Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.

~ Marvin Bell

- - - - -

Something I find particularly compelling about what you have written here is the idea of "just do what you're told." I think that much of education (and society as a whole particularly for those holding marginalized identities) is not about learning and certainly not about questioning, but it is about conformity. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Richardson, who was about 114 years old used to always say, "Sit down. Keep still. Be quiet." It was her motto. I was raised to be a rule follower, but I'm not sure I have completely fulfilled that mission because sometimes rules are stupid.