The Destructive Power Of Peer Pressure

Have you ever been pressured by your parents with any school work, I have. My parents are always on to me, have you done your homework Faizana?, have you read?, have you done this?, have you done that? I know the feeling, it’s not to good, especially when you get a bad grade. Many kids from the age of 8-13 are actually being pressured from their parents or peers to get the best of grades the school has to offer. Kids are studying way beyond their limit, not having a social life, not being able to do things that most majority of kids are doing. At that age they are proving or pleasing to parents that they are capable of accomplishing something when their parents should know that they are capable of doing that. Yes, we all should encourage kids to do the best they can but that doesn’t mean they should put success upon everything else.

One reason I think that parents put too much pressure on kids is that many parents put pressure on their children to earn perfect grades, no matter the cost. Guidance couns telors say that this is one of the kid’s biggest issues, they get a lot of stress to please their parents or peers. Parents can be very eager and forceful for their kids to success in life, but they also need a social life. I think that for this issue, a way to solve it is for the parents to listen in on what is going on in their kid’s life and understand where they are coming from, not just accusing them. Kids have a lot of stress already from school or from friends, one of the biggest issues of stress are from social media. At many schools, such as UWCSEA parents can track their child's grades and tests, they can also track personal emails, and homework assignments. When the parents find that the grades are out, it is quite obvious that the kid will get a slight under confident feeling, that their parents might get angry at them. Of course, they would be worried, especially if it is coming near to the end of the year. Parents always are wondering how their kids are doing in school, that is normal, every parent should think that, though it can make the child agitated at times as they keep on getting reminded “studying comes first before anything else”. By rising the pressure, as they grow older, they will always want their parents to be happy or teachers, but it’s not like that, kids should please themselves, they should be happy, if they tried their hardest, that should be enough. It doesn’t need to show in the grades. "Rejection can be heart-breaking and devastating. Especially for high-achieving students who spent countless hours studying and preparing for assignments, exams and projects," said Anxiety.org.

Another reason for pressure is stress and anxiety. Kids get anxiety, they get worried. This can lead to depression, anger and frustration. So stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed — even kids. In preschoolers, separation from parents can cause anxiety. As kids get older, academic and social pressures (especially from trying to fit in) create stress said "Childhood Stress." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. As it says, “as kids grow older, academic and social pressures create stress”, it means that, if any kid has any stress from school, their peers or family should notice this action and should help the kids otherwise what if the kid might hurt himself/herself, in some cases that might happen.

Girls and boys also adults, have this kind of pressure from work, family, friends or even social media. Parents should be aware of this, everyone should be aware and should help, everyone should be careful if it happens to their friends or it happens to yourself. If you are in this position get someone to talk to, they can help you.



Bibliography:

https://www.anxiety.org

http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/stress.html

You vs Pressure

 Pressure from Competitive Sports

To start us off, close your eyes and imagine this scene. You are at a football game, the sun glaring down at you, beads of sweat racing down your cheek as you cheer your team on. In fact, your son is in this team. The ball flies into the net and the crowd goes wild. You go ecstatic, screaming your head off until realising, that the players are all 8 years old and you are sitting in a set of bleachers, alongside a crowd that consists of 3 people. Believe me, my mom used to go pretty wild.

 Onto a more serious note, many people believe that children receive pressure that could emotionally and physically scar them for life, but I believe that certain types of pressure can boost a child’s performance, mentally and physically.  Pressure at a young age helps you prepare for the real world and when you start to gain responsibilities. Pressure to practice and get better helps children make themselves into adults. 

Competitive sports not only teaches the values of resilience but it also reinforces it. This is significant because this skill teaches kids to give their all in the toughest of times and deliver results under pressure. “I feel very lucky to have got involved in sport when I was quite young. I was ten when my parents took me to an open athletics day in Sheffield where I got the opportunity to try athletics for the first time and instantly fell in love with sport. This was the start of something that gave me focus and determination throughout my teenage years.” (Ennis-Hill, 2015). This shows that child athletes start to gain a sense of determination and dedication. 

I also have to agree that pressure can be harmful in many ways. Being an avid participator in competitive sports, I have experienced many failures and had to deal with large amounts of mental trauma after huge losses. I was devastated for the first few days but in the end of the day, it’s just a game. Through all the injuries and failures, you learn the values of teamwork, sportsmanship and resilience and this is what my argument is built around.

On the topic of injuries, there really aren’t that many serious injuries in the world of child competitive sports. Allyson Pollock, a physician and public-health professor conducted a study determining the dangers of rugby. She found out that a child playing 15 matches a season had 1 in 6 chance of getting injured (2014). This is important because many believe that kids get injured constantly. 

In most but not all sports, teams are required. Teams play a huge part in dealing with pressure. Whether or not you are friends with your teammates, if you ever lose a big game or have too much pressure on your head, having a team experiencing the same thing honestly gives you some comfort. In 4th grade, my football team and I were in the finals for under 11 football. We were all nervous yet excited, blood rushing through our veins, itching to get onto the field. Long story short, my team and I lost. We were devastated. Being in 4th grade and not losing a single game in our entire season, we didn’t know how to react. I still remember the way I walked off that pitch, a look of regret and heartbreak on my face. But I knew that my team was feeling the exact same thing and knowing that if we were a team and were going to go down together, gave me a little bit of redemption.

In conclusion, I believe that positive pressure from peers and adults can shape a child into a more mentally strong and resilient person and can give them values that will turn them into adults. I can also acknowledge the fact that the majority of children quit sports not because of pressure or injuries, or rather just not liking that/those sport/sports. 

Why You Should Give Your Teen More Independance

Dear parents,

I am here to tell you why you should give your child more independence and space while in their teenage years. Child independence is very important in a teen’s life during their transition into adulthood. Teens need to learn important life skills/lessons such as decision making, money saving and time management.

I have no experience in giving children independence because I don't have a child but I can just imagine how hard it must be letting them go. This is an important and difficult time in all parents lives, but for the teen it is a lot harder. They will feel happy and sad, excited but scared and most of all they will miss you being their ‘protector’. You as their parent and guardian have to help and guide them along the way.

Firstly, between the ages of 10 to 15 your child will be going through many mental changes. Your child is almost definitely going to make many mistakes as they grow up and start to discover/understand their true self. Making mistakes is definitely ok, actually, research shows that making mistakes is the best way to learn in life. A Raising Kids and Independence article says that, “Your child needs to make some mistakes, to explore and have new experiences. This will help him learn life’s lessons and continue to shape his brain’s development.” This shows how important it is to let your child be independant and discover things themselves, even if that means making mistakes along the way. It is Important to show you teen that you do not expect perfectness from them.

Secondly, teen’s need to learn important life skills such as decision making. A teen can not depend on their parents to make all their important decisions for them, because in their later life when they are in university or a job, they will have to make many important life changing decisions. It is very important that they learnt how to do these skills in their early life, where if they make a mad decision it won’t affect their life drastically, this comes with independence.

Thirdly, teen’s need to learn the skills of money saving. An interesting Investopedia article shows just one of the many reasons why it is important to save money. “If you get sick and need expensive health care that your insurance doesn’t cover, you’ll have a way to pay for it even though you can’t work while you’re getting treatment. And knowing that you have options because of the money you’ve socked away can give you even more peace of mind.” Other reasons for teens to save money, is to cover insurance, college funds, saving for housing, loans to be paid off and there are many more. Just think about this, do you really want your child to be depending on you for money, do you want your child to be living off bank loans or in debt.

My final reason why teens need to be given independance id for them to learn how to manage their time and not procrastinate. Encourage your teen to be responsible for his or her own time. Ask questions like, “How much time do you need for homework?” “How long to do you need to unwind after school?” If the answers to the question is “None” and “Until midnight”, you need to sit down with your teen and have a conversation about how to fit everything into an orderly time table. I am pretty sure you don’t want your child to be running around to classes late or have forgotten to finish important essays and not handing things in on time. A suggestion for helping your child from a Teenagers Independance article is, “You may want to let her try out her schedule through, say, one grading period. If grades go down, the schedule needs work and maybe more supervision from you.” There are many ways you can help your child manage time but sometimes you need to let them figure out a way themselves, something that works for them.

In conclusion, all though letting your child go and giving them more independence may be a scary and worrying time, it will greatly help them in the future. They will need to learn important life skills such as time management, money saving , and decision making. You can help them learn these but at some point they need to discover these things on their own but all the time with your encouragement and support, especially when they make mistakes. Always be there as their parent and protector in the hard times, have their back and support them when times get really though. But most importantly, don’t be afraid to sit down and talk with your child about how everything is going.

Thank you for reading,

From Nadia

Bibliography:

"Raising Independance in Teens." Raisingchild.net.au. N.p., 05 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/independence_teenagers.html>.

Fontinelle, Amy. "Why Saving Money Is Important | Investopedia."Investopedia. N.p., 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/031215/why-saving-money-important.asp#ixzz43KviW66F>.

"Huckleberry House." Teenagers and Independence. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://huckhouse.org/parents/teenagers-and-independence/>.

Social Medias Impact On Teens

       Nowadays, teenagers have all the digital devices you can think of and they all come with social media apps. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, all affect teenagers in different ways. One might argue that having social media helps improve lifestyles like being more fit and healthy from seeing models and how they look, but in the long run, teens become dissatisfied with their appearance and become very insecure about their body, feel a state of depression or anxiety. Perfect Illusions PBS said that 42% of girls in grade 1 - 3 want to be thinner. No one that young should be feeling self-conscious about their body. 78% of 17 year olds, girls especially, are unsatisfied with how they look. Seems unbelievable, right? That’s not it. 46% of high schoolers have an eating disorder. If social media is affecting kids and teens this much, why do we continue to have social media? The false body image that is being carelessly thrown out to the world has got to stop. Would you want to being living life like this? If you are, why?

        Instagram is flooded with perfect body images which are almost always photoshopped to reach this ideal body that no one really has naturally. In many cases, at a young age, people are exposed to social media and perfect models that stand on the page. Body images can create false fantasies for young girls, such as making them want to look a certain way even though everyone has their own body type. Teenagers start to have this image in their head of what they need to look like in order to be beautiful and when teens look at their flaws, they become depressed, but mostly very insecure. The article Social Media: A new source of insecurities, says that at age 13 teens become to recognise the image you don’t have and by 17 years old, it only becomes more noticeable to them and worse. Even though a teenage girl could end up being as “perfect” as other models or celebrities, she will still tend to not feel satisfied with herself because each model looks different. Luckily, throughout time people start accepting who they are and what they look like, but very slowly it happens.

        Now, I know for a fact that almost all the seventh graders at my school find themselves in bed with their phone checking social media. New posts of Cara Delevingne and her unique looks or maybe looking through Kendall Jenner’s Instagram account. No matter what person you wish you could look like, we all think about it. Going to bed becomes a struggle and it’s as if the phone sits on your bed just taunting you to pick it up and continue the searching. “Increase of vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this,” Cleland Woods said. Lack of sleep because of social media can make teens depressed and more sensitive to things, such as how they look. The study, from British Psychological Society showed that nighttime social media use relates to poorer sleep quality. It also results to higher anxiety and depression.

        Being self-conscious about yourself can lead to way more then wanting new clothes. Personality changes and mood swings are some of the many emotional things that can happen. Growing up can be hard enough, but when jealousy of girls, models, or actresses come into place, it makes it even harder when you are still figuring out who you are. Girls may become intimidated by other women, who are on television shows, or are famous. Teenagers may treat others in a rude manner because of the influence they hear through the internet or through media. The Huffington Post said “25 percent admitted to difficulties in relationships because of social media". Sadly, anxiety squirms into teens head and in some cases, it can become so difficult that they become very depressed.

        Overall, social media and the false body image it puts out, creates too many unnecessary problems for teens. It causes anxiety, depression and insecurity. Teenagers are already experiencing changes and figuring out who they really are, but when social media comes into place, it makes it very difficult for teens. Teens are so emotionally attached to social media these days that it can hurt relationships and how you feel about yourself. On the other hand, social media can provide a rich source of information and help people stay connected. Teenagers need to be responsible and learn how to manage how much screen time they have. But, how much teens are hurt, needs to stop.

Homework Balance

In a world where students are receiving increasing pressure to perform well academically, one of the biggest points of arguments that this pressure shows up is in homework. For many students, this drudgery seems like a torturous repetition of the already long school day. But even the students who hate homework most seem to acknowledge that there is some benefit to doing homework. In fact, for many students homework is a necessary reinforcement of concepts learnt at school through practice. But what is really going on? Is homework a great tool for students to continue learning even at home, or is it just an enormous time sink in the lives of already busy students? The evidence seems to say that schools should not give too much homework to students as this can cause stress, lack of personal time, and lessened interest in academics. Instead, schools should occasionally assign a small amount of balanced and relevant homework based on the individual student’s needs. This paper will argue in favour of a balanced and differentiated approach to homework, that hones in on the needs of individual students without overwhelming others with the unnecessary workload.

The first reason students should not receive too much homework is that it can cause stress. According to Youki Terada, a research trend tracker who holds a Master’s in Education and has studied educational research, one of the biggest drawbacks of homework is the fact that it can cause “...physical and emotional fatigue…” (Terada, 2015). He also mentions that homework “...can cut into sleep time…” and “...can increase pressure from parents to perform well…” The fact that we see homework causing fatigue and actually cutting into sleep time for students shows that there is a problem here. What is most important to see is that the homework that causes the most stress is rote memorisation homework - similar repeated exercises with only small amounts of changes. These repeated exercises tend to be, from my and other students’ experiences, very tedious and long tasks that are unhelpful to learning reinforcement. All this kind of homework does is cause stress without benefit. Instead, what should happen is a small but focused amount of homework - for example, according to Monica Fuglei, an adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, effective mathematics homework “...should have a small number of varied exercises.” (Fuglei, 2013). The small amount prevents any possibility of stress while the varied exercises are even more effective for students to reinforce understanding and make analytical connections between concepts.

The second reason students should not receive too much homework is that it takes away from personal time. According to Trevor Pilgrim, a retired Principal of The Lodge School (a secondary/high school in Barbados), homework often “...disturbs family life…” and “...keeps them [students] up late at night…” (Pilgrim, 2013). He also says that it is important for students to “...relax, play and pursue sports and hobbies…”. These are major issues with homework, and how much time students have to spend on them. According to Terada, the average High School Student spends almost seven hours a week doing homework. Doing the calculations (not including weekends, which under most normal circumstances should be free for all students) that means students spend 1.4 hours a day doing homework. After a long, seven hour school day and co-curricular activities or sports for most students, 1.4 hours can often be the 1.4 hours before bed. There isn’t even time for them to go talk with their family or relax! This can often contribute again to feelings of fatigue, tiredness and stress in students - according to Antranik, a personal health trainer, “Stress and the lack of time go hand in hand. When we feel we don’t have enough time, we often panic!” (Antranik, 2013). One of the contributors to this problem is the fact that many teachers, especially in Middle and High schools underestimate what they call a “twenty minute task”. After a school day, student’s minds are tired and this task can take up to thirty minutes. Multiply that by four and we get two hours of homework. This is way too much - some teachers may not completely understand the busy lives of students. However, this can be fixed - homework that is set with outside activities, extra time and the three other pieces of homework from in mind, combined with effective homework practices like varied exercises and relevant work can make homework less of a time sink and more of a helpful tool to foster student learning.

The third reason students should receive less homework is because it can decrease interest in academics. Already mentioned is the problem of most homework being tedious rote memorisation. No student enjoys these kinds of tasks and might end up viewing academical knowledge as mostly just memorised information of no relevance to their own lives. Akshat Jain, a student from UWCSEA has mentioned that with regards to rote math practice, he “...feels frustrated, annoyed and angry with this kind of homework. I think this kind of homework is quite useless for my personal learning.” And it isn’t just him. Many students cry out similar complaints, and the evidence backing up these complaints is definitely stable - many students forget things within a summer of learning them because they have no interest in committing these things to memory. While some skeptics will say that learning to do things that are unenjoyable is an inevitable part of life, this is only true up to a certain extent, and after that, it can, in fact, be a detriment to student learning. Academics on their own in school already seem irrelevant and detached - according to a survey conducted on LiveScience.com, two out of three High School students report that they are bored in class every day, and 75% reporting that they do not find the material they are learning interesting (Bryner, 2007) - and homework is definitely not helping to correct this image.

So what can be done to fix this? Eliminating homework is not an option. John Bishop, author of the book Goal Setting for Students mentioned many important benefits of homework in his article entitled Ten Benefits of Homework. The most prominent include how homework “...teaches students about time management...how to set priorities...how to problem solve...how to work independently…” (Bishop, n.d.). These are things that can’t be learned elsewhere but are important life skills that students must eventually understand one way or the other. By eliminating homework, we throw the baby out with the bathwater. What is important for homework is that we don’t set too much of it, and what we do set is “...engaging, relevant, and supports learning…” (Terada, 2015). The best way to do this lies in several answers. Fuglei lists these examples: the flipped classroom - “...where students engage the lecture material outside of the classroom and then classroom time is dedicated to what would have been homework under the traditional setup. Teachers are then free to allow students to work in groups or individually, visiting each group and testing their mastery along the way.”, spaced repetition - “Spaced repetition covers and revisits material over time in ways that traditional homework has not, revisiting material that has been covered in the recent and distant past to reinforce a student’s knowledge base.”, and retrieval practice - “Retrieval practice can lead to interesting assignments like the role-playing homework described in “How to Create Effective Homework,” in which students adopted a historical persona. Their drive to maintain their character extended into their motivation for completing homework.” The flipped classroom is the most effective way to do this but requires a lot of logistical changes to happen. On the other hand, spaced repetition is something that can be easily implemented into the current homework regiment. Retrieval practice is something that can be done both in and out of class - one example being that of our school, where in Humanities Class, we engage with history through role-playing, like acting out the various parts of the Feudal System, exploring the differences between the English Longbow and the French Crossbow during the Hundred Years’ War by having a simulated battle, and learning about the Age of Exploration by role-playing a selected explorer. These are examples which many students can attest to enjoying, myself included, but yet we learn so much from them. Critics will argue that much of the benefit of homework has been lost by changing its format, and while this may be true in some scenarios, such as standardised testing where rote learning is what is most necessary, for other types of learning like skill development, this type of homework is much more effective. When it comes to assigning effective homework, there is no excuse - teachers are spoilt for choices.

In conclusion, homework is a widely but incorrectly used tool. While there are many benefits and positives to be derived from it, right now, it is overused, as can be seen through its damaging effects on students - effects like stress, detraction of time and boredom. But homework is at the same time a tool with great potential for improving student learning - it has many benefits for rote learning and things which cannot be done in class, as well as providing teachers with a progress chart for viewing their students on. While others claim that the only solution to this problem is to eliminate homework, I contend that that is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and that the true solution for most cases is to instead change the amount of homework quantitatively, and change how it is done qualitatively - so that there is less homework that is more relevant, personalised and interesting for students. This is something that must be done - homework can only be most effective when assigned in a differentiated and balanced manner and it is important for students to get their learning in the most effective manner, so this must be implemented in whatever way possible.

Bibliography

1. Bishop, John. "10 Benefits of Homework." HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. HotChalk Lesson Plans Page, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
2. Fuglei, Monica. "Ending the Homework Debate: Expert Advice on What Works." Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016
3. Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
4. Terada, Youki. "Research Trends: Why Homework Should Be Balanced."Edutopia. Edutopia, 31 July 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
5. Bryner, Jeanna. "Most Students Bored at School." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 Feb. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
6. Antranik. "Time and Stress." Antranikorg. N.p., 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.