Chris Wasnetsky Field I 11/20/13 Influences on a Student in High School The hypothetical student I am choosing will be a freshman boy

in high school. I have several reasons for this. I am going to be teaching high school so a student in high school is relevant to me. I am a male so I have personal experience I can relate to. And finally, a freshman entering high school is bound to have more severe influences by the people around him than the other grades. The high school will be a new environment for him and he will no longer be taking every class with the same students, it will be a new experience for him. Lets call him Bob. Bob has a multitude of influences that he encounters on a daily basis. Examples include the principal and other administrators, his school counselor, his teachers, his classmates, and finally the rest of the student body. Bob doesnt have direct contact with every person in the school on a daily basis, but that doesnt mean that the influences they have on him are limited to just the direct interactions. Some influences can last a lifetime, whether they are positive or negative. Starting at the very top with administrators, Bob tends to see these groups of people the least. The most common interactions with these people are at assemblies, and even then these interactions are indirect. In my old high school, the vice principal interacted directly with students more than the principal (who focused more on large group interactions). So assuming that is true at other schools, Bob would interact with the vice principal in the hallways on occasion and for major disciplinary referrals less often.

When Bob get an office referral for poor behavior in class, he must meet with the vice principal. Depending on how Bob views authoritative figures, there will be three outcomes. If Bob views authoritative figures in a positive way, he will take the vice principals message seriously and stop whatever behavior he was doing. On the other hand, if Bob is a rebel who does not treat authority with respect, no matter how the vice principal addresses Bob, Bob is not going to listen or take the information seriously. Finally, if Bob is just apathetic towards authority, he will appear ashamed for his actions but then not really care if he does them again or not. The school counselor may or may not have an influence on Bob. If Bob has a serious problem he will be going to the guidance counselor for help. Depending on the school size, he may receive personal attention or not. If he doesnt, he might fall into a depression because there is no one to talk to (if his friends or family are not available options because of the personal nature of the problem). If the counselor can give him personal, one-on-one attention, then the counselor can significantly impact Bob/s life. High school age is a major part of a childs life where hormones come into play and identities are formed that may stick with the person for a lifetime. Bobs teachers can also influence him. Because Bob is a freshman, the only major interactions with teachers he will have is with teachers currently teaching him a subject. If Bob is a class clown, it can be understood as to why teachers might breed some resentment towards Bob, whether it be intentional or unintentional. Bob might feed off of this negative attitude and continue his actions until possibly getting and office disciplinary referral or suspension. On the other hand, if Bob is a good student, the teacher will naturally treat Bob better than if he were acting poorly. The teacher might give positive comments or remarks to Bob which makes him

feel good. Additionally, the teacher might make small talk with Bob outside of class which creates a sort of friendship between the two. Bob might also be the type of student who is quiet and does not stand out in class. The teacher might occasionally make a remark to or about Bob, but those are infrequent. Bob in this case might or might not look up to the teacher. In either case, the teacher wont really influence him too much and Bob will forget about the teacher once high school ends. In other words, the teacher wont really have any impact on his life. Students in the classroom can have influences on Bob as well. Some of these students may be Bobs friends outside of school. I would venture to guess that his personal friends would be Bobs highest form of influence, followed closely by other students in the school. Assuming Bob takes his schoolwork and grades seriously, comments from other classmates can have effects on Bob. If Bob is unprepared for class and the teacher calls on him for an answer to a question, Bob might feel very uncomfortable because of how his peers would view him for answering incorrectly or by replying I dont know. On the other hand, his peers might view him negatively if Bob always answers as many questions as he can. Other students who are struggling with the class might breed resentment or jealousy towards Bob for how he acts during class. Overall, the previous groups of people, with the exception of Bobs friends, do not influence Bob as much as other students that are not classmates of his. Bob sees these people in the hallways, in the locker room, and in the cafeteria. Depending on the size of the school, Bob might recognize everybody else in the school at first glance (as was the case for me) by the end of his freshman year or he might constantly see new faces every day of the year. How these other students affect Bob depends on his personality. I would venture to guess that few freshman has

their sense of identity established and are immune to other students opinions, actions, gestures, etc. Therefore, lets assume Bob does not have a sense of identity established. Bob may look up to upper classmen as role models and try to imitate what they do, whether their actions are positive or negative. The upper classmen might also pick on freshmen because they are younger and more susceptible to bullying. Another possibility involves Bob trying to prove himself to upperclassmen. This might include engaging in fights to appear tough, conforming to other students ways, or partaking in illegal substances (alcohol, smoking, drugs). In the case that Bob does not have any true friends in the school, he might be tempted to join cliques or gangs. Teens as a group tend to crave attention from others and are uncomfortable until this has been fulfilled. Different people find different ways to accomplish this. If you dont participate in sports or clubs and have no true friends, hanging out with a group of people might be the closest thing you can get to being accepted. In order to keep this sense of acceptance, you will conform to the groups ways. I think this might be most easily seen in the cafeteria, where groups form for eating and socializing. Overall, depending on Bobs personality, he can be influenced in different ways from different people in the school environment. The main groups of people in the school that influence Bob are school administrators, counselors, teachers, classmates, and other students in the school. Placing Bob into a new school environment and knowing very little people can be a stress for Bob. The easiest way for Bob to feel at ease is to feel accepted by his peers, with which he has the most social interaction with. In this process, Bob must consider the influences that other students give to him and he must choose how to react to those influences. High school is a major part of a childs life and the decisions he makes may affect the rest of his life.