December 15, 2022

In the book The Sandman, Neil Gaiman refers to rules and responsibilities as “the ties that bind us.” But should we always be bound by these ties and follow the rules? There are times when breaking the rules offers greater creative opportunities for powerful change and can inspire new, innovative ideas. We love new, improved, updated versions of the products we use, as they support the new, improved, updated versions of the lives we want to lead. Leonard Mlodinow, theoretical physicist and science author, calls our love of novelty neophilia, the love of the new. New as change. We take risks to break the rules because as humans we are excited by change. Change is a form of rule-breaking. If breaking the rules is synonymous with punishment, how can we advocate it as something that is in our students’ best interests? We clearly are not saying anyone should break the law. Rather, is breaking the rules always wrong? 

Sometimes it is essential to break rules for change, so let’s have a look at some famous rule breakers. Steve Jobs is a great example as he often broke design rules throughout his time at Apple. One…