ABSTRACT
The fraying and breaking of traditional social ties experienced by many contemporary adolescents is evident not only in the family lives of the metalheads, but in other areas of their lives as well, particularly in their attitudes toward school and religion. School is an active source of alienation for many of them; they do not like it, and they resent and resist having to attend. Compulsory education for children is a historical development. It is only since the beginning of the century that Western countries have required children to attend school, and many non-Western countries still do not. Studies of American schools describe how individualism is promoted in a variety of ways. For many, the only redeeming feature of school is that it is a place where they see their friends. Keith Roe has done some interesting research on Swedish adolescents indicating that school failure is strongly related to liking heavy metal music.
