Friendship: The Super Power of High School and its Effects on Academic Performance

The relationship between friendship and academics has been observed from many different perspectives; it is most relevant to education but has a lot of relevance to the sociological world of academia. The most researched facet of the relationship is how friends impact a student’s grades in the classroom, but there is so much more to the relationship than that. Friends can affect a student’s sense of belonging, their comfort with collaborating in the classroom, and their feelings about school. Not to mention the characteristics of friends unrelated to the classroom, like where they are from, how they act, what they like to do outside of school, and their cultures play just as major a role in shaping a student’s academic performance and connection to school as their friend’s grades and study habits.
My thesis is focused on the impact that friends have on academic performance with a precise look at the key factors of these school friendships during a high school experience. Most research done on this topic comes in the form of quantitative research like surveys, but my thesis consists of interviews that get an in-depth and unique perspective on the elements of friendship that impact a student’s academics. These interviews consist of people over 18 and out of high school reflecting back on their experience.