Jenna White is an A Level Student and aspiring musician. Read about her experiences here:
How many times in one day do you rebel? Once? twice? None? The answer is far more times than you think. It's the definition of 'rebellion' that is often misconstrued by many. Rebellion is 'the action or process of resisting authority, control or convention'. The 'authority or control' part is generally referring to people in some form of incarceration (sort of like how teenagers feel at home)! Convention, however, applies to everyone. Convention is simply a norm or a traditional practice. If you are somebody that chooses to live your life on your own accord, and not on the accord of convention, then you, my friend, are a rebel! You'll now see that the number of times you've rebelled today turns into a much larger number.
The proposition still stands: 'rebels are winners'. This statement proposes the view that those who decide to exit the line following the leader, and start a new line where there are no leaders, ultimately prosper. They prosper because conventions in fields like fashion, music and social behaviour are not everlasting and new conventions must come into play. The problem is that only a microscopic proportion of society are prepared to begin the trend. This small percentage of, what I like to call, 'rebels' are the ones to recreate reality and make modernism; they are pioneers with perspective and actualizers whom are not afraid. It is out of these challengers that spring the most renowned entrepreneurs and all the prolific musical/fashionable/artistic leaders - these particular social rebels are, essentially, winners.
So how can this apply to the wonderful and powerful youths of the world currently in academic training for employment - students, in other words! Any person that has some experience in academia would have noticed that there is a gross amount of restriction and tunnel vision in the way we're taught. Of course, this 'constraint learning' aims to prepare citizens for the climb of the social ladder. I'd like to think that the early stages of education, though, are the most fundamental and thus most important; these years act as the foundations for a house - no foundation, no house! With that said, a method of teaching that creates minds finely tuned to perceive life in a small range of ways is not a good one. Less vaguely than 'not good', it triggers a great deal of rebellion since there is just no liberty. Now does this warrant condemnation of 'rebels'? In this case, I am not referring to those whom are lazy and have no intention to attempt; I am referring to those rebels that decide to construct their own path instead of blindly following the path of Michael Gove and his entourage of teachers. These people should be encouraged to work in ways bespoke to them. The product does not necessarily have to be what WE perceive as excellence. The truth is, life proceeds beyond today; trends change and the future unfolds. It's this courage that produces work of true 'excellence' and is the reason for our convenient lifestyles full of toilets, traffic lights and escalators.
The men and women that are the cause behind your gadgets and tools had to think outside of the box. To think outside the box, you must 'rebel' against convention. So yes, in relation to convention, rebels ARE winners.
