A social group is a collection of people who interact with each other and share similar characteristics and a sense of unity with some common goals. It’s therefore essential to belong to a certain group at school for healthy groups have just a lot to offer, ranging from holding productive academic discussions and enhancing self-confidence to establishing tremendous social networks for fantastic future connections.

Groups, therefore, support each other through hard times and this can be a great course for greater academic success. 

However, if you don’t share any similar interests or common goals with these friends, this is already an indication of an unhealthy social group, which is likely to avert your educational goals into a gang of ruined crowds with all sorts of risky behaviour such as drinking alcohol, drug abuse and sexual activity. Frequent engagement with such friends may result into neglecting class work, skipping school or losing focus towards completing assignments and dropping out of school.

You might try to live up to your friends’ expectations just because you want to fit in the environment or because you don’t want to hurt their feelings, but it’s important to cut off their destructive behaviour and concentrate on your career ambitions. Being an individual means making decisions based on what is best for you. It means taking ownership and responsibility for your actions and how you take charge of their consequences. It’s not just the turbulent stage of your peers that has to shape your educational goals, but rather your own passion for greater academic heights and how you strategise ways of achieving academic success. 

At this point, you need to develop independent skills to control your own behaviour and minimise your level of association with such friends. Understand your own values and beliefs, have self-confidence, choose the right group of friends, connect with your parents and teachers for more guidance and say to your friends exactly how you feel. 

Research shows that students who have more "learning-oriented” friends tend to perform better in school than those who spend time with unhealthy groups. 

You will achieve more in school if you think ahead and control the impulse to resist pressure from them or better find yourself a reliable group of friends that will help you to enhance your academic and social competencies.

Wish you the best.