Deviance is what public often consider as negative, unnatural, or taboo, but it

doesn’t always necessarily mean that it is not positive. Deviance in sociology means
being non-normative or different, it is any act considered by public consensus or the
powerful at a given time and place to be a violation of some social rule. Time, place, and
consensus are the factors that influence deviant conduct. Currently, a lot of issues
emerge from various causes, which makes a person to not conform to the norms of the
world, or to not go with the flow, this is what makes a person deviant.

In a university, a student will encounter an entirely different environment that will

certainly affect the way they socialize with others. As college students, we know the
privilege we have in the university is different from what we have on our past institutions.
Freedom will be given, but will never be absolute, thus making students accountable of
every action they are going to make. However, a few students frequently abuse the
freedom they have been given resulting to them being mandated. One example is college
students of De La Salle University – Dasmarinas being reprimanded by the Student
Welfare and Formation Office or as we all know, SWAFO. They are in charge of the
enforcement of student discipline policies, rules and regulations as stipulated in the
student handbook.

Many of those rules and regulations are mistreated and abused by many of the
students—thinking that they will just be given a fine or a warning. We all know that
educational institutions are the second home of the students—wherein, they should be
molded to obey the boundaries of rules that have been implemented. Abusing the
implemented constrictions are identified as unintentional yet irresponsible or intentional
offense. Most of the statutory mandated rules which is being abused are: no I.D’s, late
comings, car and parking issues and inappropriate clothing. Those rules are being
abused in so many years by the students according to the SWAFO.
 According one of the abusive offender students said that, “I.D lang naman kasi
‘yon, ang laking issue naman sa kanila kung walang I.D”. That statement confirms that
some of the students are not afraid of having a fine, warning and community services.
Knowing that those disciplinary actions from the SWAFO are the offense that would affect
their records but, they still don’t care at all. In this case, deviance sets the accepted
standards or behavior of the students to which they would be given a reward or fine. In
every good deed, DLUD does recognizes it for which to be the role model to everyone
else— look up to. Remember, “Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has
commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that
you will possess”, from Deuteronomy 5:33.

Imagine a school with no rules. School rules are quite important because they are
made for the safety and better welfare of the students in school. It is mainly used to
promote good behavior among students and to maintain the good image of the school.
Rules are meant to discipline the student’s behavior. If we did not have school rules,
students would not waste a second to take advantage of the fact that everything that was
once prohibited is now completely fine to do. For example, the school dress code. Our
dress code rules teach us to consider how we look to others by telling us what is and is
not appropriate school attire. Without these rules, students are less likely to be well-aware
of how to dress appropriately and are more likely to dress indecently and offensively.

Rules assists in smooth functioning of the organization to achieve set goals of the
students. If we do not follow rules in the schools that means we are violation the laid
norms, not assisting the institution to achieve the set goals which are for the betterment
of the children and ultimately for the better society.

If we are going to relate it in the major theories, first is in the Structural-Functional

Theory, wherein also based on the strain theory which questions: Why do people break
rules? Based on the strain theory, that social structures within our society has the high
chance of pressuring citizens to commit crime or break rules. In the case of this study,
students are peer pressured by their friends or by their co-students, based on their own
experiences and other experiences, they somehow pressured because they were
encouraged not to obey rules and they learned that those rules are ineffective. This
characteristic that we have is abnormal in our social structure, wherein this is somehow
part of our society, which may or may not help us survive and strive.

On the Conflict Theory, in the case of our study, we would be relating this on the
students and faculty situation, wherein if they are both commit a major offense inside or
even outside the university, the faculty has the power to defend his or herself and can
somehow lessen his or her consequences in the present up to the future. The student, on
the other hand, will somehow defend his or herself, but his or her future in the university
will be on the hands of the investigating team. But in our university, we remain our ruling
system right and just wherein, we for sure is working and active.

On the Symbolic Theory, we might relate this case into the situation wherein our
first school as a student is our home, wherein this is where we develop our behavior which
we will apply in our school or university. In this situation, if the scenario is that, in the
home of the student don’t have rules or strict policy which is really happening on some
families, if the student is from that family, he or she may apply it also in his or her school
or university. The student think that his second home also has no rules to obey and he or
she may also influence others or future deviant.

In our perspective, being a student means we should obey rules in our university,
not just only they have to be obey but we see it as our training ground for our futures,
wherein rules are more stricter and time is shorter, wherein there are no more second
chances and no more parents that will defend you. We student must obey rules and
regulation in order to have a better future, because it will be our foundation of who we will
become in the near future.