Are classmates a more important influence?
I strongly agree that classmates are more influential to a child’s success at school than parents. This I support with the following reasons.
A child spends so much time with his classmates at school. They study together, play together, and write exams together. Psychologists agree that during their first years at school, children are more influenced by their classmates on their emotional and mental growth.
In addition, a child has nothing to hide with his classmates in terms of academic performance. For instance, a child who does a bad job in a math exam will be revealed on his grades; a child who wins the first prize in oral debate contest will be rewarded before the whole group of students. So his classmates know both his good and bad sides. However, It is easier for a child to conceal something to his parents while describing his conduct at school–often limit to those good points.
Finally, classmates are of similar age with a child. They share so many interests in common. So a child is more attracted by his classmates’ activities. If he is in a group of children who are interested in creative activities, he will more likely to think of inventing something. So classmates are very helpful in a child’s success at school.
From the above discussed, I agree that classmates will influence a child more in his success because they spend more time together, they understand him better than his parents, and they have so much common interests together.
Children’s success at school depends on a lot of factors, excellent classmates, qualified teachers, good parenting and so on. Among all the factors, classmates play an important role in determining children’s success.
First, classmates are a great help in the academic studies of our children. Children spend most of their time at school with their classmates, sharing learning experiences among each other. No only are they competitors, but also they are learning pals as well. When someone face difficulties in the learning process, he can seek immediate help from his classmates especially when teachers are not available at that moment. In some cases when courses relating to language teaching demand that students prac tice speaking in groups, cooperative classmates will be a great assistance to achieving the goal of effective learning.
Second, children acquire communication skills during their encounter with their classmates. Children who are able to establish good relationships with their classmates are more likely to achieve in their future career. Since a classroom consists of a group of people including teachers and students, they are just like a small society. If children can deal with everything appropriately with their schoolmates at school, they are more likely to keep good terms with their colleagues in the future workplace. A Good relation with others is part of their success.
Finally, children have also obtained a great deal of life experience from their classmates. Being of the same age, children are easier to communicate with their generation than with their parents. As a result, they learn more from their counterparts than from their parents.
From those reasons, we can safely conclude that classmates are too important a factor to ignore and they are a more important influence than parents on children’ success at school.
