NCERT Class 11 Home Science School Peers and Educators

B. SCHOOL PEERS AND ADUCATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this section the learner is able to—

• discuss the role of school in developing new relationships.

• understand how relationships  with peers transform as the child grows.

• know the importance of developing friendships.

• analyse the influence of education and teachers on students’ development and achievement.

9B.1 SCHOOL

In your view is school just a place to study or something more? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear/read/think of the word ‘school’? Studies and examinations, most of you would say! Hard work and some degree of fear, you may want to add! But school is also a place where you meet friends and some of these friendships lead to lasting, even life-long relationships. You also meet adults in the role of teachers and many of them shape your attitude towards learning, towards new subjects, and in fact towards life! Most of you would have a special feeling about one or more teachers who have taught you during your school life – teachers whom you admire and look  upto. Thus school, apart from serving an academic function in our lives, is also a network of social relationships that influence our values, behavior  and thinking, both directly through the process of teaching-learning, and indirectly, as we interact with peers and educators in the school. In other words, it is one of the agents of sociallisation. In this chapter we will focus on the role of school as a place for developing relationships and interactions with ‘significant others’ in our life.

 Infants as young as six months show an interest in other infants. When placed together they may attempt to touch each other, smile and look at each other. But at this time they treat the other just as an object – they do not respond to or see them as persons in the ways that we understand. Between one and three years of age, the child begins to realise that other children are persons and begin to have social interactions with them. In the early years, a friend is someone who lives close to you; in other words one who is available for play. These friendships usually have nothing to do with liking the person or her/his qualities. At this age, most children do not show a preference for any one playmate. They play together occasionally, using the same toy or interacting with each other, but most of the time they play on their own.

In the preschool years the child starts relating to others in a more sustained manner. But early friendships are superficial. They are quickly formed and quickly broken – the child may be friends with another child who has a toy that she wants; however, the friendship may not carry over to the next day, unlike the friendships of an older child. Thus during the preschool age, a friend is someone with whom the child ‘does things’ such as playing with toys. During the later part of preschool years, interactions between children become more sustained. Older preschoolers play with each other, cooperate and take turns during play. They may also prefer some peers over others. By the beginning of middle childhood years, the child begins to realise that friends are those with whom one shares common interests and feelings and not just those who have things one likes. The child begins to realise that trusting each other, responding to each other’s needs and presence of desirable qualities such as kindness and considerateness in friends are critical features of friendship. They understand that friends help each other. During the middle childhood years the child’s circle of friends usually increases – the child spends more time with friends and their influence also becomes more powerful. By adolescence friendships become deeper and friends share each others’ innermost thoughts and feelings.

You have read in the chapter on ‘self ’ that by the time the child becomes an adolescent, friends may become even more important than the parents. Most adolescents usually have a small group of close friends – called ‘clique’ – and a larger number of friends who are at some distance – called ‘crowd’. The crowd is a loosely organised group of peers who tend to be together because of shared interests and activities. However, members of the crowd are not close to each other as members of cliques are. Thus young people watching a stage show form a crowd and a group of adolescents planning an outing together are part of a clique.

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