Thursday, March 11, 2010
Blog #2 - Final Paper
Peer pressure, or “the social pressure by members of one’s peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted” (Dictionary.com) has occurred throughout history. Teens throughout the years have been faced with many pressures: Pressures that come from their families (including parents), friends, peers, teachers and society. For my final integrative paper I am planning to take a closer look at the pressures that are placed on teens by their peers. I am going to use the books we are reading in class (beginning with Charlotte Temple then the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, followed by Betsey Brown etc. ) to help explain how peer pressure has effected teenagers throughout history. The book I used for my individual project (The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll), and my personal experiences growing up during my teenage years will also be significant part of the paper I am writing. I know that while growing up my peers pressured me to dress and act a certain way. They put pressures on me both directly and indirectly. Although many times my friends and peers would pressure me to stay out later than I was allowed, and pressure me to date certain people, they also would put many indirect pressures on me. Pressures that they did not have to say but I felt none the less. I am very interested to see if peer pressures placed on teens today have changed throughout the years or if teens are still faced with many of the same peer pressures.
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I love this idea Kate! I know my own choices have been influenced by peers, family, religion and my community. My friends and I all grew up with in fifteen minutes of each other and all turned out very differently. We all came from divorced upper middle class homes, we all were raised Christian and have strong ties to the school and our community. However, we had very different parents. I lived with my mom, who is a business woman, very independent, never got remarried and focused all her time on me. I didn’t spend much time with my dad until he got remarried and had kids. Taylor, one of my best friends lived with her dad, little brother and step mother, but often spent time with her mother and her children, Taylor’s half brother and sister. Our other best friend, Leah lived with her mother and two sisters. Leah’s dad was never really a part of her life. We all went separate ways in high school, but are still extremely close. I think it’s the bonds we have from childhood that make it last! Leah works and has no desire to go to college she leaves with her boyfriend in Geneva. Taylor is engaged to her lifelong boyfriend, they both work and are both in school, and they just bought a house in Painesville. The separate pressures we faced caused us all to take separate paths going separate ways but will always be best friends.
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