We need rules. Apart from our bodies following some very strict and complex biological laws, without which we would not even be, even the very words we use follow universally agreed principles. Like this one, called English.
The political economist Elinor Ostrom (who shared the Noble Prize for economics in 2009) observed the phenomenon of spontaneous rule construction when people had to collectively manage resources such as land, fisheries, or water for irrigation.
She found that people construct rules together about, say, how many cattle a person can graze, where, and when; who gets how much water, and what should be done when the resource is limited. These agreements often arise from the needs of mutually consensual social and economic interactions.
But on the other end of the spectrum, we have the powerful, imposing their way of doing things from the top down. This is exceptionally evident in institutions. To show that it's not necessarily effective, let's take a look at a Reddit thread created by user ObviousEntertainer with the question, "What's the dumbest rule you had in school?"
#1
Needing to wait 10 minutes before and after classes have started to use the restroom.
My adolescent body with developing Crohn’s Disease did NOT take kindly to this rule, and got
Into fights with the bathroom monitor often (someone who would make sure nobody was in
the bathroom for too long doing drugs, having sex, other things of the sort).
Into fights with the bathroom monitor often (someone who would make sure nobody was in
the bathroom for too long doing drugs, having sex, other things of the sort).
Thankfully the Principal had a heart of gold and gave me a special pass to use his personal private bathroom which was so nice and clean. In a high school of 5000 teenagers, being able to poop in peace at the rate you go with Crohn’s Disease made my life somewhat less sh*tty (pun intended).
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220points
#2
No gloves, because only gang members wear gloves.
It's freezing cold and your gloves are bright pink? Take them off before someone thinks you're a member of the notorious pink gloves gang.
It's freezing cold and your gloves are bright pink? Take them off before someone thinks you're a member of the notorious pink gloves gang.
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166points
#3
In high school, they tried to implement a rule that guys weren't allowed to wear pink that was definitely targeted at a guy who was "one of the freaky people" who would wear a pink hello kitty shirt to school. It didn't work, though, because a large portion of the guys came in the next day wearing pink (including a lot of the football players, which shocked me a little) and the decision was overturned before the day was over.
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156points
#4
We could not touch each other. All physical contact was banned.
There was one teacher that claimed if it wasn't for this rule, we would all be running around raping each other. Ah, yes, truly the time of my life.
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146points
#5
In grade school. We weren't allowed to fight back. That was the actual rule. A kid pinned me down with the help of his friends and started going at it. It was winter and he was wearing his big puffy gloves so it wasn't too bad, but I kicked him off of me and I got in an equal amount of trouble as him. A different kid a few years younger got suspended for a similar instance that same year.
When I pressed them as to what I was supposed to do, apparently I was supposed to "use my words". Yes because the most effective tool to stop someone beating the s**t out of you is to ask them nicely to stop. I loved that school, amazing teachers and support staff, but f**k the administration was terrible.
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139points
#6
If you were absent too many days out of the year you got a 2 day suspension. Nothing like kicking kids out of school for not being in school.
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128points
#7
My kindergarten had no doors on the toilet cubicles, but huge mirrors on the opposite wall. We all had to go at the one time. *everyone could see what you were doing. I have lifelong anxiety from this*
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118points
#8
Couldn't wear flip flops because they were considered a weapon but you could wear stiletto heels...
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117points
#9
In middle school, if we said sorry we got in school suspension. The teachers claimed that apologizing is a form of lying and lying is bad.
Edit: We also weren’t allowed to have water bottles or to to a water fountain. The only time we got a chance to drink was during our lunch. We could also only to go the bathroom once a semester, or we would be have in school suspension.
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114points
#10
At an all girls high school: No ankle socks because ankles can attract boys and make them have sex with you.
Ankles lead to legs. And legs lead to.... up there.... and we ALL know what's in that area.
(which also, according to the school was rape on the girl's part because you were making the boy want to have sex with you and boys, as you know, cannot resist so....)
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112points
#11
Clear or mesh backpacks only. This was from 1st grade through high school in the late 90s to early 2000s.
We also had to wear a safety vest as our bathroom pass in high school. It was such a joke that the first year the rule was introduced, our year books were a giant safety vest on the outside. Honestly the thought of a shared unisex safety vest for bathroom visits still grosses me out as I know those things were never washed properly.
Edit: This was before Columbine happened.
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107points
#12
I wore the skull misfits shirt and they called me to the deans office and told me to turn it inside out. They said it was because it represented death.
I said “so it represents something that inevitably happens to every person, so I’m not allowed to wear it?” Then walked out. Never caught any flak for it, was pretty proud of my punk 16 year old rebellious self.
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104points
#13
In high school we had what they called "lock-out". If you were 1 second late for class the teachers would lock the doors and you were supposed to go to the cafeteria to get a detention for being late. Instead of getting a detention I would just leave school and skip the whole day and not get in any trouble. All because I was a few seconds late for class. Pretty dumb.
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100points
#14
No Simpsons anything. This was when it premiered, and there was this national scare that Bart was a bad influence. There were to popular Bart shirts that were banned, one that said "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" and another that said "Bart Simpson, underachiever and proud of it"
This eventually evolved into banning all Simpsons shirts, school supplies, stickers, etc. after some of the teachers started watching the show.
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96points
#15
No water bottles because a few girls 4 years ago snuck vodka into the bathroom.
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92points
#16
In primary school, we weren’t allowed to use erasers. We were never told why.
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88points
#17
The boys weren’t allowed to wear shorts at my middle school, but the girls could wear ‘culottes’ (basically shorts with a fancy name). One day about a hundred boys came to school wearing culottes. The Man had it stuck to him hard that day
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83points
#18
We couldn’t wear winter clothing in class (coats, gloves, hats). Even with the heat on, it got cold in the winter inside the school so we just had to freeze. They said it was because winter clothing were gang symbols. This was a farm town in Wisconsin.
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78points
#19
My middle school banned hugs. At least, they banned front hugs--the rule was against "chest to chest" contact, regardless of context or gender. No chest bumps after a game. Several girls got in trouble for hugging their female friends goodbye after school. It was a strange place.
Edit: To clarify, this was a public school in a suburban area in a liberal part of the country (US). I don't remember whether there was a ban against hugs from behind--I'll try to ask some old classmates when I get home and update if any of them remember.
78points
#20
Well 3 of them.
No mechanical pencils or any pens that click. Teachers found that s**t annoying.
No peeing outside the toilet or urinal. Common decency but if your caught, you would get a call to your parents. The rule isn't stupid, its actually really good, but the people who its targetted at are.
Zero tolerance policy. It's in nearly every school. I haven't had any encounters but it does strike people hard. Imagine getting beat up.... and getting punished for being beat up because you happened to be involved even though you did nothing. It's a d**k of a rule.
77points