How not to be a mindless sheep

I bought a book called Dealing with tiresome teachers, picky parents and foul friends for my pre-teen. She fears it'll turn out to be one of those "character building things" I'm trying to foist on her, but I suspect she'll read the book anyway.

In the meanwhile, I came across a neatly articulated bit of gyan in the book... How not to be a mindless sheep:

• Engage (with people and situations)
• Enquire (why, how and what of things)
• Experience (life - for yourself)

That makes sense to me, even minus the tiresome teachers, picky parents et al.

Btw, the book is by Scharada Bail (Scholastic), costs a 100 rupees and here's a nice review of the book.