Parents are very good at instilling the right morals and advice in their children especially when they are leaving the house for the first time, whether to the university or find greener pastures - of course, for the parents who deeply care and not just those parents who are selfish, chasing after their own lives and what they'd get from their children no matter what they bring to the table not minding to enquire how they got such.
I have heard many times how peer pressure can be dangerous and how we should be careful so we aren't influenced negatively by friends or outsiders. This is why our parents made great efforts to make sure we were provided with everything we needed so we were content. Even at that, there are still some children who aren't satisfied and still want to imitate their peers.
When you talk about the factors affecting low performance in academics, you'd surely find "peer pressure" to be among them. Talking of the causes of premarital relationships and early pregnancy amongst girls or the causes of drug abuse, peer pressure cannot be excluded from the list. We all believed that peer pressure could only be on the negative side. But does it mean peer pressure cannot be positive?
Peer pressure can have positive effects, especially when it encourages individuals to adopt beneficial behaviours. For example, individuals are more likely to engage in healthy activities, such as joining a reading book club when their friends participate in these activities. This form of positive peer influence can promote overall well-being and discourage engagement in risky behaviours.
Just as an individual is influenced negatively, the same is being influenced positively. Talk about negative competition; there is a positive one, too, where one is motivated and inspired to be the best. Peers can positively influence each other. Students often adopt the study habits and attitudes toward education prevalent in their peer groups. I have experienced similar things a lot of times, including when I was at the university.
When I gained admission into the university, I was all alone. For the first few weeks, moving around the school all alone with no friends around, I was doing my thing by myself - going to classes, reading my books indoors, except for some days I would stay longer in school and would just read a few pages. Eventually, I met someone who had the same goal as me. She was this calm and intelligent lady who had taken her studies so seriously.
We became friends, and a few days later, we had another join us to the extent that after the first semester, another came wanting to join us because she'd noticed our performances, but we had to decline because we didn't want more than the three of us.
At first, I was okay with reading all alone in my room; sometimes, when I was in the mood, I would visit them at their houses so we could study together. But these two found it calming to go into the school to read. This is what I didn't want at first because I was comfortable reading alone and in the room which is my mini library.
My friends and I while in schoolThey tried making me see reasons to follow them to the school to study too because to them, staying at home causes distraction since we lived around the student area. The only time I was able to read and assimilate was at midnight.
But on this day, after much pressure from them, I agreed to try it once. But it changed everything for me that day. I was now the one who would always push them to go to school to study, especially when exams were approaching.
There was a spot we used, which was always a calm environment - no student dared cause any distraction, especially when they saw more than 5 students in the environment; they knew they were studying. We became so accustomed to that particular place for our study whenever the exam was approaching, and it was always an amazing time reading and assimilating slowly and easily with no disruption.
We all came out with good grades because of that. They made it fun and amazing for me.
This is something I can say about peer pressure, which is a positive one because you've got friends who want the best for you and not those who want to ruin your life by copying their lifestyles, which doesn't fit into the life of a responsible individual.
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