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Kaylyn Wright
Elizabeth Kent
English 1020
9 February 2016

Websites:
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http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/01/11-surprising-factors-that-determine-yoursuccess-in-school/
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article53087965.html
http://www.everydaylife.globalpost.com/friends-affect-success-23052.html
www.bmj.com/content/317/7163/924.short

Friendships/Bullying
Throughout the movie series Harry Potter, Harrys multiple friendships have kept him alive and
got him through his schooling. Along with helping learn how to conquer or master certain skills that he
wouldnt have on his own. Studies have showed that having different types of friendships beginning in
kindergarten helps a person to learn more, grow, and decrease behavioral issues. Apparently studying the
way a person befriends people and how many friendships they have can be used to find out whether or not
they will be academically successful. Also, if a person should choose the wrong friend to be friends with,
this can change a person academically and make the person who was going to be successful not be
successful anymore. So, friendship can be good, but can also be bad if youre friends with the wrong
people.
In Harry Potter there was a game called quidditch in certain movies that made things get hesitant
between Harry and his friends. The fact that Ron played sports gave him a big head and made conflict
between Hermione, Harry, and himself. Then in another one of the movies, Harry got to participate in the
triwizard competition even though he wasnt 17 made Ron and others mad, which in turn caused
problems between their friendships. However, even then Ron still helped Harry through his competition
just didnt tell Harry the help was from him. Throughout the movies, though, Harry has needed multiple

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friends to get through school because in certain classes I know Hermione helped Harry a lot and got him
through classes along with him using one of Snapes books that had cheats in it to help him do everything
correctly in the potion class. Also throughout the movies Hermione was like the big sister or mom
towards Harry and Ron, and tried to tell them and help them become more focused and be good in school
unlike them being childish and acting like immature boys all the time. Because it is shown that friends
usually follow examples of their friends depending on how much they may like or accept their friends. As
it is shown on more than one site, students perform way better when they have multiple friends than if
they dont have any. Which is one reason that Goyle, Crabbe, and Pansy start acting like and following in
the footsteps of Draco because they see how he is acting and see him as their role model as a friend,
which in turn leads to start bullying Harry like Draco is doing himself.
Also, the three being friends helped each other as incoming students not knowing anyone not be
lonely or feel like an outsider. I know when I was a freshman at my high school I didnt know anyone and
neither did my ex-best friend so when we became friends; we basically helped each other through school
and helped each other make more friends and not feel let out since we knew we had each other if anything
went wrong. Also, we had many things in common so we became really close and stayed friends
throughout high school until, of course, a boy came between us and werent friends anymore. That was
always a huge thing in the Harry Potter movies is to be there for each other no matter what, well
throughout the movies things happened and friendships were on edge just like me and my ex best friend.
Well in the Harry Potter movies, they always made up and became close again; me and my friend on the
other hand did not and went our separate ways. Then after losing her as a friend and having other friends
it has helped me pass high school and graduate successfully and now I am here at AUM getting my
degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. If it werent for my friends then I wouldnt be
where I am today because my friends have helped me stay calm and focused.
Im not quite sure what I want to do yet, but I also thought about going in another direction
dealing with the bullying in school. Mainly between Draco and Harry with the help of Dracos friends
Goyle, Crabbe, and Pansy. Throughout all of the Harry Potter series Draco and others like Voldemort and

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death eaters following Voldemort bullied Harry Potter and were threatening him. Not only was Harry, but
other characters in the movies at different times were being bullied by multiple people. In the United
Kingdom a lot of people reported that they had been or are being bullied, and that a certain percent of
them reported they are or have been bullied at least once a week. Usually the most common type of
bullying is name calling and is more present in younger boys. Also, it is known that there is bullying
happening more online because of the amount of social media that is created and the fact that people are
more likely to be on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Part 2
I need to ask myself things like what all ways can a person be bullied and how often do people
get bullied. Also, I need to ask myself what ages are more common to being bullied or what gender is
more commonly bullied. Then for the friendships part, I need to ask myself what the importance of
friendships are. Or why do people seem to be more successful when they have friends compared to people
who dont have friends. Also, how often do friendships last and are they helpful in helping you with work.
Also, if someone is a bad role model, does that mean you will become unsuccessful? Another question
answered will be why do students even bully or decide to start bullying? Did they just decide to start
bullying others or was there a background reason as to why they started? The way I will answer all of
these questions is through research and my own personal history of being bullied or having friendships in
my past and today.