I kinda agree with you on the peer pressure point of view, but I think that peer pressure is down to the group of friends you have.
One of my best friends (I'm not 8, honest) since high school has just recently graduated as a commercial pilot, and previously went to uni and graduated with a Masters in Aerospace Engineering. During high school he made the decision to change his group of friends, for a number of reasons, I still to this day believe if he didn't do that he wouldn't have been as academically successful as he has been. When comparing the two sets of friends the academic achievements of them are polar opposites.
I'm not saying academic achievement is the most important thing in life but since it's the context of this discussion I think it's relevant.