That's just it-- for her, in one particular domain, MOST of the time, authority doesn't know what it's talking about, and is therefore an active danger to her. (yes, really)
She needs help being MORE assertive in those situations, not becoming comfortable that the teacher/grown-up/boss/manager should just be trusted.
The only authority she 'struggles' with really are the group of adults who are in her inner circle. We sometimes call this "DD's circle of pain" by the way, so she's pretty strong willed there, but with most authority figures, she is a total deer in headlights, shrinking violet type. She does what she's told even when she really shouldn't for her own safety. We worry about this constantly.
The problem is that kids not raised to respect authority, I think, may have an easier job of it when they need to advocate for themselves fairly forcefully. I don't know, though, because maybe nobody listens to them because they are constantly whining on about something... Hmm.
