Under Pressureeee...

Wow what an awesome song. This has to be song that most frequently comes to my head. There's a reason for it but I just can't seem to think of it right now.

SO! To start talking about what you all came to this blog for, let's begin! :D

Teens go under all sorts of pressure. I already discussed some of that pressure in my last blog post about drinking. Many middle and high school students (teens basically) are being pressured to do all types of things by their friends and even family members. Some of those things are drinking alcoholic beverages and doing drugs.

I'd really love to share my personal experiences with that but I just can't think of a time I was pressured into doing drugs or trying alcohol. 

But what I can share is that I was pressured by society many times to change my appearance and voice/accent. When I first came to America when I was 8 years old, I had to start learning English. It wasn't easy and not everyone knew that. Kids in elementary school teased me about my accent and the way I dressed. Yes, I had a pretty thick accent. Who doesn't? When you first come into a country without knowing the language, your first couple of months of speaking that language wouldn't be the best. It's already a given that you'd stand out and look like and sound like a foreigner. But moving on. My point is that society pressured me to change the way I look. I began to learn the students' American slang and adopt the American norms. Then I changed from wearing Bulgaria's trends to America's fashion trends. 

Another type of pressure is school pressure. Sometimes a teacher throws loads of homework at you disregarding the fact that you have three other classes in which you have the same type of teachers throw homework at you, not to mention that you also have online classes and extra curricular activities such as clubs or sports after-school. AND it seems like all of your teachers give quizzes and tests on the exact same day that you have other tests for all your other classes. It's almost as if...now bear with me....as if all the teachers meet up at this underground secret cave where they pick a day (usually Friday) and schedule all their quizzes/tests on that day just to purposefully stress the students! I'm not crazy! I know all about it!

Well anyway, moving past the point that I just revealed the teachers' secret meetings, parents also put pressure on the students. Most of them just don't understand what it's like to have so much school work, do extra curricular activities, do service hours, have a social life, and get a full night's sleep. It's just too much and most parents freak out over having a B or a C on your report card. "You can always do better; you're not trying your hardest; I bet that if I ground you, you'd do better! Yeah, that's what I'll do! That'll show you!" Yeah, that sounds familiar to me. It pressures students even more. And that is my perfect example because it describes my life. Parents will be parents.

Please leave your comments if you agree or disagree with what I said about pressure and feel free to share your experiences or if you've ever been pressured by school work or parents. Thanks guys for reading this week's blog! Have an AWESOME DAY!

BUT FIRST, hear this awesome song that I was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Come Onnn.. Just One Drink Couldn't Hurt

Hello all you awesome bloggers and those who read my blog! :) In this week's blog we will be discussing peer pressure. A specific kind of peer pressure that pertains to teen drinking.

So first of all, WHY are kids so easily peer pressured into something? I mean, sure, they all have common sense and may have said that they don't want to drink yet or even at all (because they aren't ready, it's unhealthy, etc) but when it comes down to the people or friends they trust or want to impress, their mind could suddenly change. One might be convinced to do something they don't want to do either because they don't want to be disliked or rejected by their friends, to be ridiculed, or because they want to appear and feel more grown up. Whatever the reason may be, it shows that peer pressure works on adolescents. They're at an age of fitting in and experimenting. Can you blame them? Although, I'm not saying that every teenager is like this. Of course there are some who can resist and stand their ground.

So now that we covered that, it's time to get down to the statistics. First of all, drinking doesn't only involve high school students. It happens to teens who go to middle school too. I know right? It's unbelievable; they're so young! According to surveys, it is more probable that teens would try alcohol and would give into peer pressure in schools where alcohol and drugs are used. Studies show that a whopping 62% of high school students and 28% of middle school students attend those type of schools. The numbers have even increased these past years considering it was 44% of high school students and 19% of middle school students in 2002.

I know what you're thinking. This is insane. And the sad part is that the major reason is not that students resort to alcohol because of family or school issues or stress; the major reason here is.... peer pressure. It needs to end and I feel very strongly about that. It affects with the students' education, health, and mindset.

Please leave your opinions and the way you feel towards this in the comment section. And have an awesome day you guys! :DDD Stick around for next week's blog!