@salukigirl, I definitely understand what you mean about that lady freaking out. I'm in the marching band in my school, and I see people get totally pissed off because one person's not in the right spot, or someone's on the wrong foot, or can't do the dance (yeah, we dance)...
At the end of the day, I'm telling my friend, "Hey, come on. It's high school band!"

@Perna, I know what you're saying, and the whole goth thing is really stupid. Honestly. I'm talking about how the right to self-determination is severely inhibited for everyone, regardless of age.

Case and point: I enrolled in Cyber School last year with the understanding that extracurricular activities (like band) were offered by my local school district. The school policy says that band is a "co-curricular" activity, and they don't have any policies for co-curricular activities and Cyber School students, so they denied it to me.

God forbid I'd make a decision about my education that wasn't normal. They want me to make a choice between my academic life, which suffers in public school, and my social life, which would be all but gone if it weren't for band. It's not fair.

If people choose different lifestyles, the government has no idea what to do with them. Coming up with logical solutions takes too much effort. This is why they categorize everyone. Not a bad idea, standardize everything to make things easier, but it's gotten to the point where no one is truly unique because society/administration makes it impossible.

It's impossible to be free.