Thursday, May 13, 2010

HW 56 - Interviews & Survey Question

My question was: How does the number/type of friends someone has effect their success? Or What effect do friends have on personal decisions?
My Interview questions are:
  • Have you ever been positively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
  • Have you ever been negatively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
  • How do you measure success?
  • Do you still keep in touch with any middle school/high school/college friends? If so, are they successful?
  • What is your worst memory of you and your friends?
  • What is your fondest memory that you had with friends?
Interview #1
For my first interview i asked a family friend who is in 9Th grade about what she thought about her friends and their affect on her life. When i asked about her good memories she said, "My friends positively affected me to do well in school. I want to do better then them on tests like as in a friendly competitions. We would all take the same test and after we would all compare grades and see who did the best. That made me want to study and do better so i worked harder. They also pressured me into playing volleyball. I did it because they did, and it turned out that i totally loved it."
When i asked about any bad peer pressure she said, "for my midterm in science all my friends got the answers online and when they gave them too me they told me that they were the answers and i didn't want to use them but i did because they told me that they were right and that everyone was going to use them. I did it because i knew i had too or else they would think less of me.
For my third question i asked how do you measure success, and she said, "If someone has a positive impact on someone Else's life and is happy with what they do. Money not so much a factor"
For my fourth question i asked does she keep in touch with her friends from her last school, and are they successful, and she said, "I do keep in touch with my middle school friends, some are successful. Some are trouble makers and are in bad high schools and they aren't happy and aren't doing so well and are making bad decisions. Others are happy and in good high schools and are getting good grades and they are proud of what they have done. I think that is successful
For my fifth question i asked what a bad memory she has with her friends was, and she said "When i went camp with friend we spent too much time together and because of that we started to get like short with each other. We had a big fight and we didn't talk for like 2 days but we ended up forgetting about it. It was terrible because we were good friends are i depended on her and when we weren't talking i didn't know what to do.
For my sixth question i asked what a good memory she has with friends, she said "One day me and all my friends were hanging out before class in the auditorium and one friend started to play the piano and we all started to sing and dance and have fun. We were all enjoying ourselves and forgot we were in school and because of that we just kind of let go of the stress of being in school.
Response
I really liked interviewing her because i thought her answers were very innocent. She is a family friend who is currently in 9Th grade at a public school in Manhattan. Her responses were before drugs and alcohol begin to affect you and your friends being to make you drink. I forgot that there were problems with peer pressure besides drugs. It made me understand that friends are always going to try to make you fit in with them and its because they don't want to be alone when they try out the newest fad. They want to make sure that someone will have their back and be there for them no matter what they go through. They need to be able to anchor themselves to someone on the outside and have them to be able to go back too.

Interview #2
For my second Interview i questioned my friend Mark who is graduate of University of Pennsylvania. I asked him all the same question as the person before me and these are his responses:
  • Have you ever been positively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
Yes. My friends encourage me to learn and achieve my goals. Many of my friends have creative talents, and inspire me to foster my own, particularly music. Many of my friends help me remain open minded.
  • Have you ever been negatively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
Yes. At times I have joined in a group of friends making fun of someone. I ignored the hurt I caused because of peer pressure.
  • How do you measure success?
I measure success by one's capacity to love. If you can treat others with love, you are a successful person. You can foster success through generosity and creativity. If you can achieve the goals you set for yourself in this context, you are particularly successful.
  • Do you still keep in touch with any middle school/high school/college friends? If so, are they successful?
Yes, I hang out with mainly friends from my town (elementary and middle school). I have a handful of close friends from high school, college, and grad school that I also enjoy spending time with. They are all successful in their own way.
  • What is your fondest memory that you had with friends?
Some of my fondest memories with friends include trips to Vermont or other road trips. Many of them involve travel to a new place or experiencing a new thing, like a live band I have never seen before.
  • What is your worst memory of you and your friends?
My worst memories of my friends are when I let one of them down.
Response
Although his answers are shorter you get an idea of what it is like for someone who is older. He has graduated from college and he has had more of a life experience then someone who is only in 9Th grade. He has lived his childhood through and now has the responsibilities of an adult. My favorite is his answer to how do you measure success? He doesn't look for money, but looks for the human to human connection. He wants the people around him to be able to understand their fellow man and not look at him by his clothes and judge, but get to know him and see him for his capacity to understand and accept. Everyone is different and because of that why should people be judged for their money? Money doesn't define a person, nothing can define a person, but that person themselves, so why not get to know them?

Interview #3
For my third interview i talked to one of my oldest friends. I asked her the same set of questions and these are her responses:

  • Have you ever been positively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
Yes, everyday. My friends are the reason that i go to school and that i do some of the things that i love like painting. They like my paintings and ask me to paint things on their walls for them. I do it because i love it and because they are my friends. If it weren't for them i wouldn't never have kept painting like i do now.
  • Have you ever been negatively affected by peer pressure? If yes then how so?
Yes, i have done things that i regret. Things i am not proud of because i didn't want to do them, but they all did so i went along with them because i didn't want to be the odd one out. I didn't want to be left behind and the next day hear them all talking about it and think about what i missed.
  • How do you measure success?
I measure success by how happy someone is with what they are doing and what they have done. I think that if they can look back on their life and be happy with what they did and not regret that much if anything. Then i would say they are successful. I think that if they are happy and doing what they love then they are successful.
  • Do you still keep in touch with any middle school/high school/college friends? If so, are they successful?
Yes, I still talk to my middle school friends. Some of them go to my high school now. A lot of them are doing bad things and are failing classes, but they are happy for the moment. I think when they look back they wont be too happy, so i wouldn't say they are all successful, but i think that they are happy now. I think that their immediate success outweighs their future success.
  • What is your fondest memory that you had with friends?
One of my fondest memories is when i was going with my choir on a trip to a competition. As we were going there, one person stated to sing Don't Stop Believing' by Journey. When we heard it we all started to join in and pretty soon we were all singing it and for about 2 minutes the world seemed perfect. We were all in perfect harmony, and the world didn't seem to have a problem.
  • What is your worst memory of you and your friends?
One of my worst memories that i have with a friend is when me and one of my best friends got into a fight because i really liked this boy and she did too. The only problem is that he liked me, and because of that she didn't talk to me. I had to pick between this boy and my best friend. I chose my best friend of course, but it showed me how quickly she was ready to walk away from me and it really showed me who she was.
Response
I really liked being able to talk to her about this because me and her have had our ups and downs. We have known each other since we were seven so of course we have had our own differences. I liked being able to see what she thinks about friendships though. We have always had our discussions about the stupid things we do and sometimes it leads to fights. It shows that we shouldn't blame each other, but look in ourselves for some inner strength to be able to be ourselves. That's at least what i think.
Side note
The first and third interviews asked to have their names left out.

My question for the student survey is:
Do your friends effect trivial everyday decisions that you make, such as what clothes to wear?

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