High School Diary
Positive Peer Pressure
The right friends can make a world of difference
Try a cigarette, man.”“But … isn’t it bad for you?”
“Come on, all the cool kids are doing it!”
“Maybe I’ll just try one …”
We all give in to peer pressure at times, because we want to fit in or be liked. It’s hard being a teenager with no friends, and so we often leave our better judgment behind when a sticky situation arises.
Many adults think teens encounter peer pressure all the time, and this may be true, but it’s not always under negative circumstances.When we were small, our parents chose our friends for us. They knew who the “best” friends for us would be. But as we grew older, we started making our own friends, and sometimes, I’ll admit, I’ve not been as wise as my parents.
Meeting Jane Goodall
A heroine comes alive
One of my most thrilling memories during high school occurred last November, when an older woman with tidy grayish hair wearing vivid orange-colored knits came to visit my school, WAB. She was Dr. Jane Goodall, the eminent environmentalist.
I had pictured her to be peaceful, calm and quiet, but she was much more energetic than I had expected. I will never forget her nimble steps going down WAB’s stage after her presentation to the school. She was vigorous yet graceful, and she looked just like someone who would want to help save wild chimpanzees.
Although I have been part of the Roots and Shoots group since 2006, I didn’t really know who Dr. Jane Goodall was until October of that year. I learned a little bit about her after watching a Korean current events program, in which a reporter visited Beijing to interview Dr. Goodall. I was already in the Roots and Shoots group and concerned about the environment and animals, but watching Dr. Goodall speak about her work inspired me quite a lot. It was then that I became truly passionate about what I was doing and what I was involved in. Even if I wasn’t really sure what I, as an individual, could do to make a difference, I was still willing to give it a try.
Cultivating Responsible Teens
Setting Rules and Living By Them
It's Friday night, and your teen is yet again asking if they can be allowed out to enjoy the vibrant Beijing nightlife. After a predictable argument, both you and your teen are feeling tense and frustrated. Perhaps you refused, quoting the dangers of going out, resulting in your adolescent sulking in their room? Or did you let them go out after they promised to return home before midnight, maybe even the early hours of the morning?
Perturbed, your thoughts fill with horror stories of drunken teens waking up in hospitals and unaware of the previous night's events. As you wait up for the return of your child, you replay visions of them walking into a smoke-filled club containing hundreds of strangers.
As a parent, you need to be aware of such issues, of course. Consider, however, that going out one or two nights a week could actually be to the benefit of your teenager.
Preparing for the PSATs
Can one test really make such a big difference?
Acquittal. Mirth. Jocular. Just the sight of these words sends shivers down my spine. But, in the run up to my PSATs, I was forced to spend countless nights memorizing them.
Originally, I had planned to study these words during the summer, and I bought a thick stack of SAT preparation books. At first, I felt motivated and confident burying my head in them, but this momentum was somewhat lost after about a week.
Then, two weeks before the PSATs, I decided to take my books out again. It was only then that I realized I had been focusing so much on the vocabulary that I hadn’t even read the other half of the book. As I flipped through the grammar section, my eyes started to widen. Then opening to reading comprehension, my jaw dropped. A glance at the math section brought a sigh of relief, but when I got to the writing section, I shut the book in horror.
