Real Example of Adult Peer Pressure

   I can't find much more on Peer Pressure, not that I can cover in this blog. I have saved one aspect, one very important aspect, of it for the last post. So until then, I will try to find significant topics of peer pressure that I haven't covered, other than the everyday "Dude, do this, everyone else is doing it", which is much too broad.
    Anyways, not much else to say. Link going to the original blog post where this letter was copied from is Here, I take no credit for it whatsoever.


"Laurie,
My sister who is expecting her fifth child at the end of April is currently homeschooling her oldest two daughters, grades 1 and 3. She is knowledgeable in the classical approach, tries to use it herself, and also has helped to start a classical school that meets twice a week with paid teachers. The parents still homeschool the majority of the time and the children meet for the “extras” two afternoons a week.
Her dilemma is that she fears her oldest especially is not getting “enough” at home. The interruptions of the younger two are a major distraction. She is contemplating sending the oldest three to her church’s very popular day school next year (she has in fact received much heat over the last three years for homeschooling and she has little support for it in her church since the church has a school). The church is affluent by and large, and the conventional wisdom among young mothers there is to send the children to school as early as possible so that they, the mothers, can socialize, do volunteer work, etc. My sister is swimming upstream in that environment.
Yesterday she called me to ask my advice about school enrollment. I told her I understand her dilemma and her concerns about her children’s education and I strongly encouraged her to reconsider keeping her children home. Her oldest likes being homeschooled, but she is not “Speedy Gonzales” which is one of my sis’s concerns. My sis thinks maybe another teacher would be able to “get more out of her” than she can. I think she is really worried that they aren’t doing as much as are their cohorts at the day school. I think she wants a break. She really does so much of this alone. Her husband, who is very supportive of homeschooling and the classical approach, can’t help as much as he’d like. Is there anything more you would add to what I’ve told her? J.
———-
Dear J,
I think you have covered everything with your sister. In the end we have to just let go. When we surround ourselves with people who think differently than we do, and we experience very little support for our own position, then, in a moment of weakness (like when you are expecting a baby and feeling overwhelmed) we are tempted to give up and go the easy route (private school). It’s called socialization and peer influence, and I’m not talking about the children here. We as adults are just as influenced by the opinions of our peers as we know our children to be. We as adults want to “fit in.” That’s why it’s very important to properly “socialize” ourselves and avoid the influence of those who are intent on persuading us to go a route we ought not to. If you are one of those who is easily influenced by people and who likes to please people, then you ought to be careful who you surround yourself with. We all try to be careful who our children play with. We don’t want our children constantly surrounded with children who have different values, goals, and beliefs than we do. Of course, you know I’m not saying that we must never associate with those who believe differently than we do. That would be impossible and absurd. But if you attend a church where you get no support for homeschooling, if you live near relatives who only tear you down, if your friends and neighbors don’t homeschool, then it is no wonder that you will start to doubt the value of homeschooling. Surround yourself with people who will build you up, not tear you down.
Laurie"

Examples of Peer Pressure

So, I am pretty busy this week, but I'm not going to forget about this. However, instead of posting about an aspect of Peer Pressure, I'm going to link any and all of you readers to a few videos I found that illustrate some examples of it. The first one is in a more humorous light, but it still is a good example. All credit for the videos goes to their respective makers/uploaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4s7LJy__iQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orZ9gG8Vnfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OZT4dM7-fs

The Perfect Body Part 2

Guy time, now. One word: steroids. You have to be big, buff, do well in sports, right? Even at the cost of your own health. Sadly, this is true, especially in high-school students. Link to an article is below, there's not really much to say on this.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-11-02/news/17516529_1_school-athletes-creatine-supplement

The Perfect Body?

With all these models out there today with their airbrushed pictures and super skinny/muscular bodies, it's almost become the norm to want to look like them. Specifically for women (Men will be my next blog post), there are a lot of weight doubts that come into play.


"However, the social vision of the "perfect" body is simply not attainable for most people. Simple biology prevents the average American woman, who weighs 140 lbs and stands 5'4" tall, from conforming to a body image idealized by fashion models who stand 5'11" tall and weigh only 117 lbs. (it's worth noting that fashion models, under intense pressure to conform to this ideal body image, are at higher than normal risk of anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders)."



We saw in class just how much pictures can be fixed, how many pounds can be shed through photo-editing software, but the majority of people do not. All they see are the "perfect bodies" that the media displays to them. Everyone wants to be perfect, right?

Link the the entire article (which is worth reading, in my opinion) is below.

http://www.healthtree.com/articles/eating-disorders/anorexia/causes/

Picture 2

Credit goes to http://www.profectuscoaching.com/peer-pressure.php for the picture.

Keeping Up With The Jonses

Finally, a post about adult peer pressure! There's not much I can say, this article really covers it all. So because it's a short post, I'll find a picture or two on the internet (as opposed to drawing one myself last time) and post them here.

http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=268:adult-peer-pressure&catid=41:business&Itemid=37

Teenage Marijuana

So, this is probably going to be the last post about teens I'm doing, there are other aspects of peer pressure out there. Anyways, according to a study done by the University of Michigan in 2008, around 32.4% of twelfth-graders in 2007 were using marijuana. (At their school, maybe, it doesn't really say.) However, this post is not about negative peer pressure, it's about positive peer pressure.

"According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America Attitude Tracking Study, two-thirds of youth ages 13-17 say losing their parents' respect is one of the main reasons they don't smoke marijuana or use other drugs."

I pulled this quote out of the article for a specific reason, then bolded part of it for the same reason. The bolded part is an example of positive peer pressure, although parents may not be considered "peers" by most. It may be a parent-child relationship, but many teenagers, especially when they get to be around 15, start to view their parents more as equals than superiors. So, anyway, that's all the time I have for tonight, link to full article below.

http://parentingteens.about.com/od/marijuana/a/teensmarijuanadruguse.htm