influence on the secondary student, leaving teachers and parents to counterbalance this natural tendency during adolescence. Secondary students adhere to cliques, and they are very conformist in their attempts at nonconformity. Teachers should try to become aware of a school's various cliques so that they can try to separate the cliques when it comes to collaborative group assignments. Students should learn to interact with other students who might otherwise remain strangers. On the other hand, by tapping into the popular opinion in the classroom, a teacher can sometimes use group support to his or her advantage. Knowing when to force, and when not to force, the issue, is important.
Society's cultural values will many times attract students to the prestige and status of athletics over academics, or the "gang mentality" will draw the student to outside-of-school activities having nothing to do with the formal curriculum. Students may try to attain status on their own terms, which in some cas
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