One of the hallmarks of professional conduct is that persons who do not like one another personally can nonetheless work together. Conflict among groups sharpens their exterior boundaries. Within groups conflict focuses the differences between ranks and social levels. The teacher demonstrates his or her rank and authority in the process of ordering students what to do. Conflict among groups revitalizes traditions and norms.
School spirit has a lot to do with football games.
Indeed, the major purpose of interscholastic sports is in the group solidarity the conflict promotes. Within groups , the individual is confronted with an opportunity to recommit himself or herself to the values that underlie membership in the group. This is why harassment and hazing form part of the initiation ritual in so many groups. Hazing may drive many away, but those who remain are the more tightly bonded for it. Students will deliberately break small rules to see how safe it would be to break bigger ones.