PEERS EFFECTS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The real foundation of a child’s personality lies within their family of how they were raised. When a child is exposed in peer group with their friends they will carry on the personality they have built within their family usually by their parents or guardian, and this will be their guiding motivation and pattern when exposed to the outside world.
A child or students who are raised with love and acceptance may always look or find their peers with the same personal behavior so they tend to choose their friends wisely while in class. While the child who live with criticism and hatred inside their family learn to condemn and rebel to do crazy things, or they may be hard to deal with in school and often times they are the problem of their teachers. Therefore their upbringing led them to negative peer pressure related situation in academic performance especially during high school where they are beginning to explore and discover things with their classmates around them.
High school students will soon find themselves spending more time with their peers usually during their early adolescence in life and somehow they are influenced with this condition sometimes they may prefer enjoyment rather than learning. However their academic performance level may vary according to their individual preferences against peer pressure or competition.
Negatively student who belongs to the group of non performers may find it difficult to resist their peers to study seriously since they will be outcast if they do perform in the class. A simple scolding can bring down a student to follow their peers even in a bad manners of skipping in class, cheating during examination, bullying their classmates even fight and argue with teachers can be an obtainable behavior of peers that often times happen in high school students. The worse thing a peer pressure can push students to the limit is when they join fraternity or sorority of students who never really have ideology to stand for but merely an enjoyment of one’s rebellious thought in their family. And so their academic performance worsens even more.
These students begins to be wild that they can learn use drugs, alcohol, be engage in pre-marital sex, gambling, smoking, stealing and other forms of crimes at an early stage of their life. While the other group who created belongingness to the higher class usually gains a competitive healthy peer advantage and does reach to excel in class so that they will be part of the group of top performers, they are the ones who achieve camaraderie and healthy atmosphere in class, they usually participate in group talents including singing, dancing, acting or academic clubs that enrich their potentials even more while at school.
Most of these students may create valuable experiences and would never want to belong to a group of worthless activities that may affect their status in school. However all students may be susceptible to any other influences depending on their capability to resist the temptation. The top performers can also be destructed by the non performers in class. On the other hand the bad guys can also change in pattern of behavior inside and outside school if only they chose to associate themselves in the other group so there will always to a chance to renew their spirit.
School is a community of love and learning, students are trained to be disciplined individual but teachers and academe can only do so much and it is always the student who will be the one to choose their path. As you can see all students peer pressure are motivated by a group community and they all want to be a part of it. This influence led them to create the same habit forming because peer pressure can happen subconsciously without restriction.
Maybe you would ask why this high school students needs to join their peers? The answer is simple, they want to belong and they want to be accepted so they will do the works of their peers only to be included in the group. Peer pressure is not at all exclusive in school it can also be found in the outside world.
A child must learn to deal with it rather than stick with it. Teachers, Parents and the Society have very strong forces over their children so teaching them the right attitude in handling this peer pressure positively is a gift that we can give them, it is a light to keep their path straight. The bible tells about a wonderful passage in proverbs 22: 6 saying to “Train up a child in the way he should and when he is old he will not depart from it”. Learn to teach your child today the value of education and you will see that they will not just be good in school academic performance, but they will be better later on in life.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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