Q1.
What would happen if no one followed those rules?
Answer
The book answers its own question in the next line: “A simple answer is that society would not be able to function.”
Take the four sets of rules the paragraph has just listed and remove them one by one — the answer becomes very concrete.
| Rule | If nobody followed it |
|---|---|
| Rules at home | No fixed meal times, nothing put back in its place, nobody telling anyone where they are going — small quarrels every day, and no one safe |
| Rules in school (for students and for teachers) | Classes would not begin on time, no one would know which room to go to, and a teacher could not teach through the noise. Learning would simply stop |
| Examination rules | Marks would mean nothing, because honest and dishonest work could not be told apart |
| Traffic rules | Exactly the lower picture of Fig. 10.1 on page 151 — vehicles facing every direction, cycles and pedestrians squeezed between cars, nobody moving. And accidents |
| Rules at work (for employees and employers) | Nobody could count on being paid, and no employer could count on the work being done |
Why ‘society would not function’ is the right way to put it: a rule is a promise about what other people will do. Traffic keeps moving because you can rely on the other driver stopping at a red light; a shop works because you can rely on the shopkeeper giving the change. Break that reliance and everything slows to a stop — not because people become wicked, but because nobody can plan anything.
Notice: the chapter is careful that rules bind both sides — “employers must also follow rules which they have committed to their employees”, and a school has rules “some for students, others for teachers”. A rule only one side has to obey is an order, not a rule.