We are instructed at a very young age by our parents, teachers, and our superiors that complying with their demands or commands is always in our best interest, perhaps because parents and authority figures know best. While this may or may not be true, depending upon the circumstances or the adults in the room, the real reason why parents and teachers are so interested in seeing their charges comply with their commands, is that it makes it easier on their end, to maintain control of the situation, which is the main reason that they want compliance, because those that don’t comply, are for the most part, in their view, just being difficult.
So then, the “best” students, from a teacher perspective aren’t usually going to be those that question authority, or ask those difficult questions, or think outside the box, but rather the best students are typically going to be those students that are respectful, subservient, and stay always within the bounds so expected of them. This perspective is quite unfortunate, because in actuality, those students who are the most curious, dogged, and the most engaged are the type of students that a teacher should want to have, because they are doing their level best to learn.
When it comes to adults dealing with adults, we find that at least one of those parties, from time to time, isn’t really interested in having a discussion or a genuine conversation, but simply wants the other person to comply with their demands, with or without a reason. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because adults typically have a lot on their plate, in the sense of work, school, and responsibilities, and therefore when they are at home, they may not have the energy to deal with any pushback, and simply want obedience from the other, which thereupon makes their life to be smoother, and emphasizes the vital point of the importance of having a homelife in which such represents typically a sanctuary, as opposed to it representing a courtroom.
So too, there are those in military service, or prison supervision, who understand well the importance of compliance, because when it comes to the military, what they want from their soldiers on the front line is for them to work together as a team, which means compliance to the mission, at hand, with no deviation. As for the prison guards, since they are always outnumbered by prisoners, it is important that they are able to maintain control of their prisoners through compliance, or else they will conceivably endanger themselves as well as others within that prison environment, for failing to do so.
Indeed, from a young age, we are instructed to be compliant, which, at best, is done for our own good, but there comes a time when we are free-thinking individuals, and as free-thinking people we need to understand that the decisions that we make are ours to own, which therefore means, that those that comply are essentially doing so because they believe that compliance is the right thing to do, because if they did not believe that, then they are not being true to who and what they actually are, which means that they are thus being false, which is a reflection and the mark of weak character.