i was expelled from 8 schools.
i had a major problem accepting the authority of the teaching staff.
i was rude and resistant when a teacher spoke to me in a tone of voice that i felt was imposing and disrespectful to me.
i was not worried about the potential ramifications of my interaction with teachers who i did not like, and the threat of "getting into trouble" was not apparent to me.
i felt that if they threatened to give me the stick, i would refuse to accept it, and i knew that there was no way they could touch me because i would refuse to put my hand out to be caned.
i intentionally responded to authoritarian teachers in a way that elicited their tempers to be compromised. i do not understand exactly why, but it seemed like an instinctive polarization that i was powerless to control.
there are enough examples to make for years worth of reading, but i will give a few examples that characterize my interaction with them.
one example was that i went to a newsagent and had a stamp made that had my name on it. the stamp was a circular stamp that said "mark mctaggart esquire" in a circular pattern. i used it to stamp my name on my work that i submitted.
so, in class, i would write the necessary words on my papers, and then at the end, i would open my stamp pad, and punch my stamp on it, and then punch the stamp on my paper. the teacher would invariably be annoyed at the sound of it disrupting the silence of the class, and they would also be irritated by the eccentricity of it. they thought i was bombastic.
when a teacher tried to confiscate my stamp, i resisted with extreme force and told him that getting his teachers certificate did not give him license to steal property from his students.
he demanded that i let go of the stamp, and i demanded that he show me the written rule that stamps are not allowed at the school.
he told me that he was officially outlawing stamps at the school as of now, and i told him that he was not authorized to write the rules of the school on his own. i told him that any rule he created was not enforceable because he was just an employee of the school, and he had no authority to take it upon himself to willy nilly rewrite the schools rules and i refused to let go of the stamp.
then he ripped the stamp out from my hand and i told him i was going to ring the police because he had just committed the crime of theft, and he "ordered" me to go to the principals office.
i told him i would not follow his order, and instead i would go to the police and have him charged with theft. he shouted at me that if i left the school grounds, then i would be suspended, and i ran at him and tried to get my stamp back, and he was bigger than me (i was 12) and he hit me in the face and i exploded and pulled all the books out of their shelves and swiped all his papers of his desk and said that he will give me my stamp back or he would regret it.
then 2 other teachers entered the class room and they were probably attracted by the ruckus that was happening and they overheard it, and i said "right!! ! you are going to lament your actions i promise you", and i got my bag and swung for a teachers head but i missed and then i ran out of the class and left the school grounds and cried uncontrollably in rage for a while and then i went home to tell my parents. they already knew what happened when i got home and they said that i should go to bed and rest, so i did and the next day i did not have to go to school.
2 weeks later, i started attending an adolescent unit and i was very happy there, but i could only stay for 12 months, and then i was released back into the mainstream school system, and it happened all over again. the next time i was expelled was because a teacher thought i had no right to put my hands in my pockets, and the situation escalated to violence and i went back to another adolescent unit.
i was not able to complete my schooling very easily.
now i am an adult, people do treat me with respect, but i still have difficulties in interacting with people who tell me what to do without asking if i want to do what they demand me to do.