Full Text:
You've probably caught a few bugs from your friends over the years: strep throat, the flu, Bieber fever. Did you ever guess that good grades (or bad ones) might be catching too?
Researchers studied this question at a high school in upstate New York, where they gathered online surveys from 158 eleventh-graders. The students were given a list of every other kid taking the survey and asked to label each of them as a best friend, friend, acquaintance, relative, or someone they didn't know. The researchers put all this information together to create a map of relationships among the students, which looked like a dense web.
The scientists also looked at students' grades in both January 2011 and January 2012. Students whose friends' grades started out higher than their own were more likely to improve academically over the course of the year. But students whose friends had worse grades were likely to enter a slump themselves. Next time your best friend aces a test, high-five her and say thanks! (Then wash your hands.)
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Grades are contagious." Muse May-June 2013: 4. Junior Edition. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
