Can performing happy childhood be an occupational skill required of students

School takes part in producing childhood through its requirements for students. Becoming a student takes place in the intersections of various power-related discourses. This article explores how the idea of a proper student becomes discursively produced. It is based on how one Finnish girl’s perception of herself as a proper student changed as her life circumstances changed. The article concludes by suggesting that a significant occupational skill for a student may be the skill of performing happy childhood.