There are people saying that the biggest influence on students is still teachers. However, contrary to this opinion, it seems evident to me that students are influenced by their friends more than by teachers. The fundamental reason is that students spend more time with their friends and they understand one another better.
First of all, students spend more time with peers than with teachers. This is largely because they spend most of their school hours with friends talking and doing various activities together. On the other hand, they spend only short period of time with teachers and most of the class time is spent on listening to teachers’ lecture. As a result, students do not have many chances to have honest conversation with their teachers. Needless to say, students’ life style and the way of thinking are most influenced by their peers. For example, when I was a teenager, I talked to my friends all the time in school, and hung out with them after school as well. As I spent most of my time with them, my friends became the biggest influence on me. However, I had few memories about my teachers because they were not the ones who I shared my concerns with, but just people who gave me a lecture. In this regard, friends influence on students more than anyone.
Additionally, friends are the ones whom students can share their interests and concerns with. The important reason is that they are in the same situation and have similar way of thinking. On the contrary, students think that their concerns would not be understood by adults, so students would not talk to their parents or teachers about what they think and how they feel. From my own experience, when I was a teenager, I did not have serious conversations with my teachers. When I had a boyfriend issue, I could not talk to my teachers about it, because I knew that what they would say to me. However, my friends understood me and gave me advice if it had been their own concern. Therefore, my friends influenced on my way of thinking and problem solving much more than teachers. In this sense, students are affected by their peers more than by their teachers.
In conclusion, without any doubt, I firmly believe that friends are the ones who influence most on students. The reason is because students spend more time with their peers than with teachers and they share their interests and concerns with their friends. |