In my experience, a lot of what students voice as concerns with regards to rules have a great deal to do with consistency and fairness. No matter what their creative outlets, personalities or learning styles are, they crave the security of knowing that matters of behavior, conflict, etc. in their classroom will be handled diplomatically, respectfully, and in a manner that is fair to all. Many students have had experiences in classrooms where more difficult students are perceived to get away with more, where some students seem unfairly picked on, where the teacher is dictator, or where there is little or inconsistent discipline. These experiences seem to have a big impact on students. They talk about them and think about them a lot - mostly because there are aspects of those situations that really bother them. When my own kids have had difficulties with a few particular teachers, it always boiled down to issues of fairness and consistency - they perceived that these teachers had no regard for either.

Where I'm at, kids want safety. They want to feel physically safe from others. They want to feel emotionally safe so they can participate without fear of humiliation or embarrassment.