Many fundamental elements help form the society we live in such as the government and our community. The most important one is the education system which helps us grow and function as human beings in society. Because of this, we make sure to give our students the best education they can afford for them to strive and make a change for the future. Unfortunately, some obstacles prevent students from being able to succeed, such as peer pressure and their home lives.
To begin with, peer pressure can be a negative or positive influence on a student’s education that is due to the need of wanting to be accepted or to fit in with a group of people such as popular kids and friends. In the article, “Students’ Work Ethic Affected by Peer Groups. Desire to Be Popular,” author Shankar Vedantam explains that “peer pressure and popularity can have significant effects on education.” This is because the pressure students feel from their peers affects the way they make choices regarding their education that keep them from being successful. For instance, many students avoid taking opportunities that’ll benefit their education in front of their peers because they don’t wanna feel judged by them. Students don’t want to be seen as “nerds'' or different from the rest of their peers. As a result, many students are held back from pursuing these opportunities and cannot show how capable and smart they are. This leads to teachers getting frustrated over students not putting their best effort into school work which winds up hurting them academically.
In addition, a student’s home life can also have a negative effect on their education since some may live in an unhealthy household or may not be able to afford a good education. In the article “A Child Of Slavery Who Taught A Generation,” author Karen Grigsby Bates states, “Children’s performance at school is impacted by their home lives.” Anna Julia Cooper acknowledged this and provided her students with the resources they needed to continue on with their studies. The way things function at home leads to it affecting a student's academic performance. Sometimes students can't even afford a good education due to how much money their parents make. Furthermore, the toxicity of a home also impacts the way a student performs in school. For example, it could affect a student mentally, causing them to not put in as much effort into school as they would usually do, and they can fall behind and not be on the same level as the rest of their peers. As a result of these issues parents or family members may grow concerned over the way their child is performing in school. They are capable of helping as long as they manage to resolve the situations and talk to their kids to know what's going on. Parents and guardians can also contact the teachers to ask them to give the student more time on assignments until the student is more on track.
Education is a huge part of our society because it allows people to grow and teaches us the basics of how to be functioning members of society. It is a huge value that if we didn't have it we really wouldn't be where we are today. This is why we must help support our students through the struggles and obstacles they face. That way they can succeed and carve the way for a better future. They are our future so it is our responsibility to help them gain the proper education they deserve and support them to overcome these struggles.
The inspiration for the essay I wrote came from my interest in what causes many students to not give their academics their full potential. As I read through many articles, I came to an understanding that most students deal with issues at home and peer pressure which hold them back from exceeding their full potential. My writing process was not that easy; it was a struggle figuring out how to word things since it’s one of the many things I struggle with while writing. I structured my essay by first explaining what point or ideas I’d be explaining and then in separate body paragraphs explaining each reason for my thinking. The authors that mainly influenced my writing were Shankar Vedantam and Karen Grigsby, I based most of my thinking on their articles and ideas. I struggled with the same issues that I wrote about in my essay, and it kept me from reaching my full potential. I’ve also had family members such as my father who were robbed of a chance to do well in school due to the effects of their home lives or peer pressure, which is why I was motivated to write this essay.