Teen learns to minimize the effects of negative peer influences

Published in the Oct. 28 – Nov. 10, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Jorge Murillo

Jorge Murillo

Jorge Murillo

When I was 4 years old, I really wanted to go to school. The reason was simple: I wanted to understand what the TV show character named SpongeBob SquarePants wrote in his class.

The character Jimmy Neutron and SpongeBob went to school and managed to build a whole bunch of awesome stuff. I wanted to possess the ability to read and write stuff and learn how to make inventions. When I turned 5, I went to kindergarten. I enjoyed kindergarten and I found first grade just as fun.

When second grade hit, everyone began complaining about how much school sucks and that it was very hard. I did not think so at first, but eventually I did because I was sucked in by my peers.

I started to believe that school indeed did suck. But in third grade, I was reminded by my parents of the importance of schools to my dreams and my future. I pushed myself past the negative influence that my peers were unintentionally causing, and I surrounded myself with like-minded peers.

Way too often, people allow their dreams and gifts to be undermined by the people they are surrounded by. They take what other people say to heart and let it affect them and their future. We see this occur everywhere, whether it is just stereotypical attitudes with subjects, or even gender roles and traditions.

This effect, negative peer influence (done by society), is one of the reasons why fewer women are in the STEM (science, technology engineering, mathematics) fields compared to men. We can minimize the hazardous effects of negative peer influence by having positive peer influence.
It may sound quite simple, but many people who suffer from negative peer influence never go with like-minded and respectful individuals.
If you feel like you are being impacted from negative peer influence, find a new workspace or environment because, in the end, all you are doing is limiting what is actually your limitless potential.

Jorge Murillo, 15, attends Gilroy Early College Academy at Gavilan Community College. He likes to read, play League of Legends (although he has heard Dota 2 is better), and learn computer programming languages. He wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.