How do children define themselves?

In the 1960s experts in education decided that they didn't want children to feel bad about themselves so they didn't force children to reach certain standards before they could progress in their education. This didn't help the people they wanted to help but took away the rites of passage from the other children. Many of these children are now angry because they have not been allowed to define themselves and now they set up their own rites of passage. They do things like graffiti to define themselves and prove that they are adults or they try to stop the pain inside by binge drinking, drugs and gang warfare.