Classmates are a more important influence than parents

[Dhoon824]

67. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Classmates are a more important influence than parents on a child’s success in school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Most children in the United States spend more time at school than at home. This fact combined with peer pressure is what makes classmates a more important influence on his/her success in school than parents.

A typical child in the United States today spends about 7 or 8 hours at school. The hours that children spend at school have increased and some politicians want children to spend more time at school by implementing longer school days to “Keep up with the world”. This outlines the fact that a child spends more time at school than ever before. More time a child spends with his/her fellow peers, he/she would have more time to be an influence or be influenced in array of matters that lead to success at school. When I went to elementary school, I had a friend names James who was very gifted in math. I was the total opposite of him. I was more gifted in language arts and social studies. The more time I spend with him at school; the more time we had to teach each other the subjects that we weren’t good at. As a result, we were successful in passing the third grade.

Peer pressure is when a friend or a classmate influences you to do something. This can be good or bad. But, these days peer pressure has a negative connotation. I experienced “good” peer pressure my entire high school career. I had many intelligent friends in my classes. The most intelligent of them all was my friend named Young Je. He was gifted in many subjects ranging from Calculus to Music Theory. Young Je was also my best friend so he taught me Calculus and Music Theory, two subjects that I wasn’t very good at. With him teaching me, I aced those two classes.

Classmates are a more important influence on children's success at school than parents because children usually spend more time with their classmates than their parents. Classmates unlike parents exhibit peer pressure which makes children be successful at school.

TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture by a professor of Social History (2)

[Alan]

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Hi Dhoon824,

I've read your piece through and have made a few spoken comments as you can hear.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Dhoon824]

Thank you so much for your feedback Mr. Alan. Those are some wonderful suggestions.