Students from grades 6 and 7 in Chaffin Middle School are currently submitting their schedule requests for the following year. If you ask some of these students, they may mention that their siblings had helped or even inspired them for deciding their schedule. Many siblings often guide and have an effect on their younger siblings when they are choosing courses.

“I had a student 15 years ago in my class, and now, I have their younger sibling in my class.” Spanish Teacher Stephanie Tierra mentioned. She has been teaching at Chaffin for the last 16 years. She talked about how she agreed with the fact that siblings tend to follow in their older siblings footsteps.

Just because some siblings guide the younger ones, that does not automatically mean that every student that has an older sibling will do the same. Some want to have a similar schedule to their older sibling, or want to have a polar opposite schedule compared to their siblings. Mrs. Tierra had said that, “Sometimes kids, I think, want to be recognized for who they are, and not be judged against their sibling. They want to be appreciated for who they are.” Someone could have had an older sibling that was not exactly the “star student”, and the teacher may hold some sort of a grudge towards that older sibling. That “grudge” could pass down to the younger siblings.

“Doing the thing my brother did was familiar, it was easier to follow in his footsteps rather than create your own.” 7th grade student Evelyn Chung stated. Some people, such as Evelyn, prefer to go with the flow rather than create a new one (which is completely understandable and accepted here).

Older siblings tend to help their younger siblings while selecting their schedule for the following year. Older siblings tend to be informing the younger siblings of major pros and cons with classes (such as whether the teacher is nice or how difficult the class can get). Of course, some younger siblings may just avoid all the advice given and go their own way. Either way, siblings have an affect on youngers with classes.