ABSTRACT
Chapter 13, ‘Resistance Is not Futile’, concludes the book by bringing together findings from the previous nine chapters and links them to the theoretical framework that was developed in Chapters 2 and 3. It claims that the participants disliked the partitioning of their school experience from their broader lives, leading to a sense of an isolated place in space/time. It is also suggested that relations between teachers and their students need to be rethought, moving beyond behaviour management into something more reciprocal. If the democratic public sphere is the medium through which a society manages and resolves its problems, then young people’s voices are effectively excluded from this. Finally, the chapter concludes that wherever power exists, there will always be a culture of resistance. This is not a matter of those who are weaker mindlessly transgressing rules and conventions, but rather a struggle over the expression of that disseminated power. By treating young people as emergent adults with responsibility for their own lives and engaging them productively with the running of schools, it is likely that they would feel a greater sense of ownership over their education and connect with it more positively.
