Teens are extremely creative. And when they're not creating, directing, filming and editing their own elaborate music videos on TikTok, they are often putting their skills to use in another area: breaking the rules.
As a former high schooler myself (brag), I know that rebelling against school regulations is an art form that, when done clumsily, can result in detention. But when done well, it can earn you the respect and admiration of your peers—maybe forever.
Someone asked Reddit: "what's the best way you've seen someone rebel against school rules?" These 21 stories of teens who bent or broke the rules in imaginative ways are nothing short of historic.
All hail the diabolical minds of teens.
1.) From -eDgAR-:
Halloween costumes were banned at my high school because of some idiots like 10 years before that dressed up and used it as an excuse to hide their face while they vandalized the school.
My senior year more than half of the class decided that we would still dress up and march into the school together in the morning. We all knew we would be punished right away, but it didn't matter. I stayed up all night making a suit of armor out of metallic duct tape and carboard, along with a broomstick horse to ride. Here is a picture that ended up in the yearbook
The next day we all gathered in the parking and waited for everone to show up. People went all out and there were a lot of amazing costumes, and after about 20 minutes of waiting we started our march in. The deans had learned of our plan and were waiting for us right as we entered. They started pulling people aside in groups and taking student IDs to hand out detentions.
In my group there was one guy dressed up as an ATM and when the dean asked for his ID he started making ATM noises and then slipped the ID out through the slot where you would put your debit card in. It was one of the funniest things and I was so jealous that my costume was not as clever as his. Even though having so many of us participate was pretty awesome, his costume just made that whole event for me.
2.) From mama_oooo:
guy was wearing shoes against the uniform policy and was ask to put on shoes from lost property, he went around school barefoot all day.
3.) From Link-to-the-Pastiche:
I was at a private school that had rules about the length of boys hair. One guy in particular always ignored the rule and the administration would tell him to get a hair cut every so often, but he never did. Eventually when his hair got about down to his shoulders the principal pulled him aside and told him his hair was twice the allowed length and by next week it needed to be shortened by half.
Monday rolls around and he comes in with half his head shaved, and the other side as long as ever. We were impressed by literal interpretation of the principal's request, but it still ended up with him getting a suspension for a week and he had to shave the other side before he could come back.
4.) From biggins9227:
After 9/11 my school made a rule where we had to wear our school ids. They went overboard quick handing out detention to anyone who didn't wear one. One kid had his ID blown up and put on a shirt. On the back it said "yes I'm wearing my f*cking ID". He got detention for not wearing it with the shirt.
5.) From 6lesbianlover9:
No hats in school.
In high school junior year,, There was this one kid in my grade that was allowed to due to him having Alopecia Universalis, which is basically having rapid baldness.
A new teacher wasn’t aware that he was allowed to and asked him to take it off. The kid explained why he was able to, but the sub didn’t believe him, forced him to take it off, and was being very cruel to him for wearing the hat/his lack of hair.
The next day, everyone wore hats to school as a sort of rebellion against the teacher. She got really mad and started yelling at the students and said some nasty things.
She got fired
6.) From NeedsMoreTuba
After the columbine shooting, our school banned black trench coats.
For the most part, nobody cared, except the mysteriously gothic "trench coat kid." He had worn a trademark black trench coat every single day because it made him different, and then all of a sudden the school tells him he can't do that anymore.
So the kid went out of his way to find (or make) different colored trench coats and wore those instead. My favorite one was covered in duct tape.
TLDR; Gothic Joseph and the technicolor trench coat.
7.) From mercyphoenix:
When I was in grade 7, our last class of the day, students would always bring in snacks. Our lunch shift was way too early in the day, so by the end of the school day we’d all be feeling hungry. And we were all told by our teacher that if we didn’t have enough to share we couldn’t eat in the classroom.
One day, almost all of us brought in enough food to share, even with the students that didn’t bring anything in. We even synchronised the times that we pulled all our food out. Our teacher was clueless. She had no idea what to tell us. There wasn’t any school-wide “no food in classrooms rule, so she couldn’t run to the principal.”
Finally she gave into our malicious compliance and allowed us to share food for the rest of the period.
8.) From ThadisJones:
We had an awful Spanish teacher in middle school who collectively punished the class by making us write the same sentence a hundred times over in detention. On one of these occasions my friend and I asked her if we could type our detention in the computer lab (this was when computers in schools were a New Thing) so we could improve our "typing speed", and she said yes.
Anyway we didn't do much typing but did learn how to write a BASIC program that printed the same line a hundred times over.
9.) From Smallwater:
A buddy of mine was caught messing with his phone during class. Back then, the school rules were that if you were caught, your phone was confiscated for an entire day, and you couldn't get it back until the next day (this was before smartphones, and the rules have changes since the ten years that I graduated there).
So, buddy hands in his phone, but doesn't seem too worries about it. He waits a couple of classes until lunch break, and asks me to come with him. He's gonna get his phone back.
We go to the staff room (where the confiscated phones were held), and asks a teacher there if he could copy down a phone number into my phone, so he could call his dad later that day. Teacher agrees, and gives him the phone. I hand him mine, and we wait for him to copy the number. When he's done, he gives me mine back, and sticks his own phone in his pocket.
He was known as a bit of a joker, so when he jokingly said, "Welp, thanks a lot, seeya!" the teacher immediately laughs, tells him to stop messing about, and to give the phone back. Laughing and joking about "being caught", he does.
But not really. See, he had a second phone, exact same model, except this one was broken. Wouldn't charge anymore, he said. So, when he stuck his "good" phone in his pocket, it was right next to the broken one. When the teacher made him give back the phone, he just gave back the broken one.
It was the best switcheroo I have ever seen in my time at that school. He was so fluent, so nonchalant about the whole thing. It was amazing to see.
10.) From the-bryman:
Last day of senior year, we started a food fight at lunch. And by food fight, I mean we drew angry faces on an orange and an apple, then faced them toward each other, made a big circle around them, and we all reacted like we were watching a fight. All the security guards ran to break up the fight, only to make their way to the middle of the circle to find two pieces of fruit sitting in the ground.
11.) From dirtybirds233:
Friend was told in high school by his guidance counselor not to waste his time applying to his dream school because he wouldn't get in. He got pissed off and went to the principal, who told him it was the counselor's job to give her best opinion, so he trusts whatever she says. He applied anyways, and got in. He took the acceptance letter, made a copy, and taped them to both the principal and counselor's door with "thanks for nothing!" written on both. He didn't even go to that school, he couldn't afford it, but it was the principle of the matter.
12.) From Mostlyaverageish:
One of my class mates got sent to the office for wearing "gang" colors. Because he has a red marine corp bandana tied to his back pack. The rest of the year he wore a pin stripe suite with vest and carried a fedora.
13.) From Mr_Mori:
Had vending machines outside the buildings, but due to some asshat vandalizing them, this, understandably pissed the schoolboard off. The machines were put off-limits, but could not be powered down due to some kind of contractual obligation of constant availability.
In an effort to combat that faculty were posted at the machines during class changes to prevent purchases. But, thankfully, no one was posted at the machines during class time (mind you this is '97-'99 era). We weren't happy as that was our sole source of caffeine on campus. We decided to heck with that and made purchases during class.
Me, being the lithe, tiny guy I was, was conscripted to be the buyer. While the teacher was either out of the room or indisposed (or lets be honest, intentionally distracted) I would collect cash and requests, 4 at a time, and hop out the 'emergency escape window' that they had opted to not have an alarm on and walk 20' to the soda machine and make my purchase.
This went on for some time until the drink companies lambasted the school board for not restocking their dwindling supplies, (allegedly as per contract.) They put two and two together and realized that purchases were still being made (apparently I was not the only gopher) and lifted the ban on my last year.
14.) From ToastedMaple:
A kid was passing notes, and the teacher caught him and insisted he had to give the note so she could read it outloud.
He ate the note.
15.) From Acceptable-Living:
Last year our school fetched in a ban on backpacks and bags in general since they were apparently a "safety hazard" two days later some guy in my yeargroup comes in carrying his books and pencil case in a microwave... Dude made national news
16.) From PanickedPoodle:
My high school was always issuing new dress code rules for the girls. Mini skirts had to be longer than your arm, no tube tops, etc.
One day, all the boys dressed in drag, breaking all the rules. No violation because the dress code specified only girls.
17.) From RoyEsnarom:
It's not really a rebellion against the rules, but a good friend of mine had a special talent to make teachers like him despite having no respect for the actual school system. He used to study on his own to ace the tests, rarely showed up to classes he didn't like, and still got perfect report cards with high praises from all the teachers. The height of it was where he convinced his homeroom teacher to come pick him up from the beach before an important test. He eventually went on to have a great military career, but if he ever gets into politics, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to convince everyone that world domination under his rule was their idea.
18.) From hey_there_delilahh:
So we had this dude Kyle. His name is not Kyle but he absolutely had Kyle Energy™. He looked like a typical low income stoner kid, long hair, ripped clothes/jeans, beat up shoes, beanies and socks with weed stuff on em.
Now Kyle was a peculiar kid who spent half his time in detention, rarely ever showed up to tests, and when he did, would just straight sleep through them. He was pretty rambuctious, kinda funny, but ultimately was one of the trouble children. He was a "low flyer" as the assistant principal called him when we talked since I was also a low flyer. It meant he got in trouble but nothing serious like drugs or fighting (though everyone thought/knew he was a pothead).
One of my all time favorite stories of Kyle was in our World History class, the teacher absolutely hated him. They always got into it, and honestly, the man would talk very patronizingly to Kyle and the dude snapped back. Our teacher said "get out. Now" and Kyle proceeded to go to the other side of the room from the door. When the teacher asked him what he was doing he yelled "getting my back pack and getting out!". There were kinda like cubbies for our bags by the windows, so Kyle grabs his shit, packs it up, then straight YEETS IT out the window.
What follows is the teacher yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" and Kyle screaming out "I'M GETTING OUT!", followed by him fucking dolphin diving out the fucking window. It was surreal.
Kyle was suspended, came back a few weeks later, did some more shit, suspended again, came back, was finally expelled. The dude is seemingly doing okay last time I Facebooked stalked him. Works at a chili's now aha.
19.) From Parallel37:
Our school collectively hijacked an assembly by singing along to Journey's don't stop believing after the teachers forgot to turn off autoplay on Youtube.
20.) From shiggieb00:
This Josh kid I knew had to take a shit, asked if he could go to the bathroom, and the teacher wouldnt allow him a "hall pass" in high school.. Which is the dumbest fucking thing ever invented anyway.. So he got up, walked to the front of the room and shit his pants in front of the class, then blamed the teacher for it.
21.) From xXPeterPatterXx:
I had a teacher who got into a power struggle with every reasonably smart kid, so we tended not to try in her class. As a result, she began to grade the progress monitoring tool we used. This proved to me that the tool didn't matter; if it did, she would have graded it from the start instead of waiting until she realized she looked bad. So I began to fail every test I took on the platform. She was really angry at me and told me to call my parents, but my parents backed me because choosing to fail is not a violation of any rule.