Resisting peer pressure is a lesson schools teach children from day one.

But what schools fail to teach is resistance to societal pressures and values. Avoiding the influence of societal values is near impossible, as the oversimplification of situations and people, enforced gender roles, and emphasis on success at all costs shapes and influences many peoples lives. While people would like to believe that their own values are formed independently and with a moral basis, what the general public values often molds the values of individuals. Gender roles are sets of expectations held by society about the ways men and women are expected to act based on gender (Gender Role). Oversimplified thinking is a way of viewing situations and people as good or evil, and failing to see their complexity and moral grey area. The black and white view society applies to situations and people distorts individuals ability to handle complex issues, where right and wrong are not clear cut. This way of thinking is very polarizing, and often prevents cooperation and compromise between people, as shown by the United States recent government shutdown. When Republicans and Democrats view each other as either good or bad, and refuse to change or work together, it results in very negative consequences. Millions of federal workers across the US were not paid, resulting in a very angry public when the government was shut down. The Democrats blame the Republicans for the shutdown, the Republicans vice versa. The truth is, as one Huffington Post article puts it, Its everybody in Washingtons fault and they should all shut up (Irvine). Because these Congressmen and women are unable to see past party affiliations and the Democrat vs. Republican mindset, the United States government is essentially stuck at a stand still. All this is due to a black and white view of other politicians. On a lighter and more fictional note, this oversimplified way of thinking can be seen in the popular book series, Harry Potter. One of Harrys enemies is his Professor, Severus Snape. Snape is cruel and rude to Harry for the

majority of the series, and Harry views him as evil and working with Voldemort, despite several promises from trusted adults that Snape is good. Even the great hero, Harry Potter, is guilty of this black and white thinking, and this method of thinking eventually comes back to hurt him. Snape turns out to have been protecting Harry his whole life, and his last act is to give Harry the information needed to destroy Voldemort. If Harry had been able to see Snape as he was, a person with different faults and vices, good intentions and bad, he may have had a much easier time in school and when facing his ultimate enemy. Alas, Harry was only able to see Snape as the teacher who tormented him, one single shade of black that limited Harry and his victories. Furthermore, this oversimplification of thinking limits the victories of the United States, through the glorification of war. When soldiers return home, they are greeted as heroes. And of course, some of these people have been heroic and brave. But the negative consequences and actions of war are often swept under the rug. The US has Memorial Day and Veterans Day to honor the fallen soldiers and the soldiers currently serving; but is there a day to honor the innocent civilians who were killed in the last drone strike in Afghanistan? Or the citizens of Dresden, Germany, killed in a vicious firebomb attack during World War II? American society is too caught up in its own hero status, the knight white in shining armor, to acknowledge that innocent people exist in the enemys territory, too. America can honor the suffering of their own innocent, and the suffering of innocents caused by others, but it cannot honor the suffering its own people have caused. Thats unpatriotic and undemocratic and against the American spirit! America is white, and the socialists and communists and all-the-other-ists are black. This limits peoples ability to think complexly and in depth. Its what creates ignorance and hate against groups of people: all Muslims are terrorists or all black people are criminals. As

much as one would like to think they can see the good and bad in people, societys emphasis on choosing only one side often warps the way individuals think and act toward others. As oversimplification of morality clouds judgement, the emphasis society places on success at all costs drives people to perform ethically questionable actions that differ from their regular behavior. Try your best is phrase that is thrown around so much, it no longer holds any real meaning. A kid can study hours for a test and still end up with a C. Its not an A, and it will never be an A, no matter the amount of effort or trying. They lost the academic game, and try your best means nothing. As put by Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Be honest, be humble, be simple. Make sure you come in first so you have something to be humble about (Chua 24). Chuas book was received very negatively by many Western people, as her harsh and different methods of parenting often seemed extreme. She wasnt going to allow her children to fail, because failure is not acceptable in todays society. Her children were going to be successful, even if she had to burn every stuffed animal they owned to accomplish that. She made sacrifices, and her children made sacrifices for this success. Maybe she was too cruel to her kids, maybe they never had a traditional childhood, but you can be sure they know how to be successful in this society. The pressure of succeeding can be seen very clearly in schools and the education system. College is a must for many students, and high test scores are essential. A cheating scandal in Long Island revealed how much students are willing to forfeit for academic success. According to the New York Times, The youths who are accused of paying them [other students] as much as $3,600 to take SAT and ACT tests were largely undistinguished students willing to cut corners to strengthen their modest resumes (Anderson and Applebome). Children are taught in school that cheating is wrong and immoral. But the need for American societys

definition of success overrides these morals. Students are willing to pay, in ethics and in cash, for better test scores and a chance to be more successful. Additionally, this drive can be seen in sport competitions. Stories about athletes using steroids and other drugs are common. One of the most scandalous cases of this was Lance Armstrong. Seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor, Armstrong was considered a hero. When it was revealed that he used performance-enhancing drugs, many people were shocked and disappointed. But in the highly competitive world of professional sports, the pressure to win and to continue to win is massive. As put by an article in The Atlantic, most people couldnt possibly know what its like for professional athletes faced with the decision of whether to dope or risk career-altering consequences (Fetters). Lance Armstrong was a champion and hero in society when he was winning, but his success had a heavy cost. Once the rest of the world saw how Armstrong was gaining this success, they villainized him. There are winners and losers in this world, but the sacrifices made to become a winner often outweigh the benefits of the success. While societys emphasis on success often results in negative consequences, enforced gender roles cause men and women to be limited by their own expectations of themselves and others. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the male main character, Okonkwo, is constricted and limited by how his society expects a successful man to behave. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength (Achebe 24). Okonkwo is expected to be strong at all times. Society does not allow and because of that, Okonkwo does not allow himself to show any weakness or pain. When his adoptive son is killed, he mourns for three days and then forces himself to go back to working; it wasnt his real son, after all. If Okonkwo had

been a woman, he would have been expected to mourn and cry and show his pain. But as a man, he is not allowed to express himself in this fashion; he should feel no emotional pain. Okonkwo lives in a constant fear that he will show himself to be unmanly, and this fear prevents him from becoming anything more than an aggressive, violent man whose family lives in fear of him. He dies alone, and by his own hand. In another work of literature, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth works around her gender role, asking the gods to unsex her and fill her from crown to toe top full of direst cruelty (Shakespeare 1.5.41-43). Lady Macbeth recognizes that women are not supposed to act cruel, they are supposed to be innocent and kind and gentle. In order to conform with societys identity of women, but still accomplish what she needs, Lady Macbeth asks to be rid of her femininity. She finds a loophole in societys own values, and decides to rid herself of these expectations of society. A counterexample to these gender roles is the popular television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy is a high school student whose destiny is to kill vampires and other demons that plague the earth. Though she is female, she doesnt allow this to limit her. As men are normally cast as the lead in action movies and shows, one would expect Buffy to have more masculine than feminine characteristics. Instead of being a short haired tomboy, Buffy wears dresses and joins the cheerleading squad. Buffy goes against the gender role that men are the strong heroic types, and that if the women are to be heroes, they have to adopt masculine traits. Buffy is a teenage girl who can kill a vampire and paint her nails in the same hour, a trait that is rarely shown in real life (because of the vampires) or in the media (because of gender roles). When Buffy pushes a bully away from his victim, she is called a freak. If a male had done the same thing, he wouldnt have been thanked by the bully, but wouldnt have been deemed a freak. Women are meek, emotive and need protecting; men are strong, stoic and the protectors. When a male or female acts outside of their

assigned role, they are seen as odd, an outcast. A freak. Stepping outside the boundaries society places around women and men allows people to accomplish things that were previously limited to them. Unfortunately, the easier route often entails sticking to the set roles society have placed on genders and staying within the previously established limits of gender. Though gender roles are still very prevalent in society, the feminist movement is beginning to reverse the damage done by gender roles. Women do have more rights and freedoms than they have had in previous decades, thanks to suffragettes and other feminists. But in recent years, the feminist movement has been able to focus more on the perceptions and views of women and femininity. Feminists want to show that a woman is not any lesser than a man if she stays unemployed to take care of children, nor is a woman unnatural if she chooses not to have any children and focus on a career. That a woman isnt considered less feminine if she chooses to wear work boots and no makeup, nor is a woman considered weak and stupid if she chooses to wear high heels and dresses everyday. Feminists break down gender roles, and show that it is okay to step outside of the stereotypes, that stepping out doesnt make someone less of a woman. But they also show that if a woman fits in the stereotypes, it doesnt limit them or make them weaker. Being female and showing feminine traits does not lessen anyones worth as a human being. Unfortunately, the majority of the population does not consist of feminists. The work and message these people are trying to spread are important and need to be taught, but gender roles still impact the daily life of most people. In conclusion, societys value of oversimplified thinking, success at all costs, and enforced gender roles shape and change individuals own values. The world shapes people, and people shape the world. This world, this society is made up of people and individuals. The only way to change these negative societal values is for people to resist the influence and

pressure of their own world. Schools teach that resisting peer pressure is as easy as just saying no. But saying no to values that surround and affect people every day is much more difficult and complex than schools ever taught.