How important are friends to you?

How important are friends to you? A recent UK survey found that most people will have about 360 friends in their entire life, about thirty at one time. Only six friends will be called “true friends”. About 60 percent of people say their friendships are more important to them than career, money or family. When you are at school, you probably spend more time with your friends than your family. Friends may be more important to you. 79 percent of British teenagers say they tell their problems to their friends, not their family. But they are also one of the biggest sources of problems; getting friends, keeping them, feeling pressure to resemble them, having arguments... Most schools have cliques, unofficial groups of pupils with similar tastes or interests. It can be nice to be part of a group. It can give you confidence but cliques often exclude people. You can feel pressured to act or dress like the leaders of the group if you want to be part of it. US high schools often have quite hierarchical systems. They elect Homecoming* and Prom* Queens and Kings every year. It is prestigious to be chosen for a sports team or to become a cheerleader. That can form the basis of cliques. As a result, other cliques can form in reaction. Cliques vary from school to school. For example, there are the “Jocks”, those who are good at sports, the “Populars”, the cool people everyone wants to be friends with because they are sociable and attractive, the “Preppies”, pupils with money and designer clothes, the “Smarts” or “Mathletes”, pupils who get good results in class, the “Music” or “Fashion” cliques such as the Goths, the Skaters or the Hippies and there are also the “Geeks” and the “Nerds”, those who are not interested in sport, music or fashion but who like computers, computer science, video games or science fiction. Most British schools have uniforms, which limits cliques based on clothes. Or does it? Boys at a London school told us that there are two principal cliques in their school; they wear their uniform in different ways and they have different styles or baseball caps. What about your school?
• Homecoming: in US high schools, a day each year when former students go back to school to meet each other again
• Prom: in US high schools, a very special formal dance at the end of the final year