Peer pressure often terrifies parents and even the children themselves. The power of peer pressure often lures children and teenagers into skipping classes, experimenting with illicit drugs and alcohol, engaging in criminal and quasi-criminal behaviour and involving in promiscuous sex.True,but peer pressure is not always a bad thing .
In fact, it is essential in the development of proper social development that we do learn to “follow the crowd”. This is the medium where we learn to be good people with acceptable social norms. Peer pressure can be positive. The trick is learning to tell the difference between following the crowd or blindly following the crowd. Peer pressure would cost a person a lot of efforts to work it out the right way especially if you want to succeed in your life academically.
To promote a climate of positive peer pressure in studies,first a person must involved someone else into his or her plight of success. Find peers with similar goals. By having positive peers around you,you will be on track to achieve your goal. With positive peers,you will have constant study schedule daily. A positive peer will know how to manage his or her time wisely and you can simply follow his or her schedule or you can simply construct your own. Having peers like this will ensure your focus on studies because they would be aware of your behaviours and actions. Analogically,if you meet a friend everyday for lunch at a specific cafe,he or she will notice when you did not show up.Thus,you will be more likely to show up if someone else expects you to. It makes you feel obligated. Therefore, it proves that peer pressure,the taboo of our youth,can now be the saviour for our future.
So, how does a positive peer actually affects your academic perfomance? How does it works? Simple. Having good peers around you can accomodate your plight to success. First,they can be your study partners. A group consisting of not more than three peers would do to help you improvise your knowledge. Study group helps you increase your understanding and critical thinking skills. To make it more effective,you can simply have different group members for different subjects with friends that have better understandings in that particular subject. having this kind of peers will give you the good influence that will make you a better person.
Peers also play a big influence on your education perfomance in class. It is important for you to have good deskmates. Good deskmates help you focus in class during the lectures. Nor Amalina,the first Malaysian student that scored 17A1 in SPM also stressed the importance of paying attention in class. Good deskmates would not talk to you during the lectures. Whenever you did not show up in class, they share the notes and never forget to remind you about the assignments and tests coming up. Another important quality that a good deskmates should has is that you and him can cooperate well in hearing lectures and taking notes. Combinations of good deskmates and a positive study group would be an important medium to excel in studies.
Another way to generate a positive peer pressure is by the programme Mentor mentee. It is a programme where a teacher at a school or university was given a group of students as adopted kids. Universiti Teknologi Melaka has been applying this programme to overcome the discipline issues which at the same time will create a good rapport between students and teachers. Plus, rapport between students will eventually create a positive peer pressure climate that will help a student to work harder in achieving his or her goal in studies. The Ministry of Education also encourage the Mentor Mentee programme to be conducted in every schools in Malaysia through the writing of Norlela Ibrahim in the Perkhidmatan Pelajaran blog last June 25 2010 in order to promote positive peer pressure climate and build rapport.
These prove that peer pressure is not always a bad thing.Parents should reconsider the importance of peer pressure in their children's life.
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