According to Paul Willis, how do some students respond to schooling?

• A. They always accept the system
• B. They do not always accept the system and create anti-school subcultures
• C. They prefer sports
• D. They trust authority

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is that pupils are not just passive recipients of schooling; some actively resist its messages by forming their own counter-school culture. Paul Willis, in his study of working-class boys, shows that rather than simply accepting the school's authority and goals, these students create an anti-school subculture that mocks academic work, questions teachers, and values a different set of norms and symbols—masculinity, streetwise savvy, and loyalty to peers. This subculture helps them gain status within their peer group and expresses a broader critique of the idea that schooling automatically channels students into desirable future work. In Willis’s view, such resistance isn’t random rebellion; it’s a conscious response to the way schooling teaches and rewards certain dispositions, often aligning more with manual labor and a rough-and-tumble identity than with academic achievement.

So, the best answer captures that dynamic: students do not always accept the system and instead create anti-school subcultures as a form of resistance, rather than simply complying or trusting authority.