Some guys in high school feel like they 
don’t have to worry about anything, not even “rules.” 
Whether or not they want rules, guys have to 
obey them. If not, they’ll find themselves in 
detention, grounded, or undesireable places like 
juvenile hall. I have learned to not care about rules 
for some reason. I guess when things get hard I just 
give up instead of trying. 
When I was in grade school, I had rules that I liked 
and disliked, but I had to follow them to keep things 
cool with my family. There were house rules, school 
rules, friend rules, and many other rules that I did 
not know the reason for following. Rules like don’t 
cuss, don’t fight with 
your sisters, don’t stay up past 9 p.m., don’t watch 
too much television, etc. It all sounded like, “Blah, 
blah, blah” and made me feel extraordinarily 
irritated. 
When I was young I didn’t break the rules at all. But 
as time passed and I began sixth grade I 
stopped caring about the rules. Maybe it was 
because I was going through puberty or my friends 
influenced me. Either way, I just stopped caring about 
everything. By the end of sixth grade I got in trouble 
a lot, accumulating thirty-two detentions and seven 
referrals and receiving grades of D’s and F’s in all 
of my classes. 
By the time I reached seventh grade my behavior did 
not change much, and neither did my grades. My parents 
thought that my bad grades were due to my laziness, 
and they were right.
My parents continually grounded me until they finally 
figured out that grounding me never worked. They 
prohibited the usage of TV, going out with friends, or 
anything else that I liked to do. It seemed like my 
parents stopped caring, but at times they seemed to 
worry about me and wanted me to get a good education 
and future. 
Now in high school, not much has changed for me. 
Throughout ninth grade I still did awful in school, 
barely passing my English Class with a D. I passed my 
other classes with C’s; talk about a close one. Now in 
tenth grade most of my grades are F’s. 
I know many others like me who stop caring about the 
rules and consequences of their actions. But if they 
continue to persist being rebellious and disregard the 
consequences of their actions, they may end up being 
sent to juvenile hall or even state prison. 
My friend was a gangster and he killed someone. He got 
lucky that he never got an injection or the electric 
chair. He also did drugs but he quit after his parents 
caught him smoking. I haven’t seen him since the end 
of eighth grade. 
As for my behavior, I have improved. It’s better than 
in sixth grade and seventh. I used to always talk back 
to my parents, but now I don’t usually talk back to 
them. You shouldn’t be like me, but follow house rules 
and school rules, and all other rules, I guess.