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The main purpose of this article is to explore a new concept of rebellion within a variant of self-determination theory (SDT). The first study was a longitudinal study of 23,886 students from 6th grade until three years later. Half of the students are extrinsically motivated. In 9th grade, 11% are in rebellion (16% for repeater students) and 8% of the students declare themselves unmotivated (13% for repeater students). Respect for teachers (classroom climate) is correlated with rebellion, while it has little correlation with lack of motivation. In the second study (16-year-old students on vocational courses), a popularity scale measures three factors: “leader,” “respect,” and “counsel.” A weak correlation emerges between “leader” and “rebellion.” The rebel students are less sensitive to the perception of incompetence, but more sensitive to the classroom climate, which will hopefully give teachers some pointers for improving the situation.