An educator is disgusted with standardized testing and teaching methods that lead students to simply gain a credential rather th
an actually learn about the world. She decides to start a charter school that employs innovative teaching methods, does not give students grades, and encourages creative thinking over rote learning. How would Robert Merton’s strain theory of deviance classify this educator?
According to Robert Merton’s Social Strain Theory of deviance, this educator would be classified as a<em> rebel</em>. Robert Merton classified deviant behavior according to the individual's adherence to cultural goals and the means of obtaining these goals. This educator is rebelling against both the cultural goals and the means of obtaining them. Moreover, she is proposing new goals and news methods of achieving the new goals she has set.
