DR. WALLACE: My sister is a year and a half older than I am, and she’s very pretty and popular at our high school. I am only moderately popular, and while I feel I am nice-looking, I’m nowhere in the league of my sister’s model looks. I’m also kind of shy and she’s very outgoing.
I do have a couple of really close friends, and I make good grades in my classes no matter what the subjects are, but around our house it’s like I’m no big deal since everything seems to revolve around my big sister and her busy lifestyle.
Sometimes I feel jealous of my sister even though I love her very much. The truth is that she’s a pretty good person at her core and she’s nice to me when we hang out here and there. So what can I do to stop being jealous of her? I have this weird like/dislike thing going on in my head whenever I think about her. — Less-Dramatic Little Sister, via email
LESS-DRAMATIC LITTLE SISTER: Achieving good grades is very important and is indeed a big deal! Congratulations on being an excellent student; these skills you’ve developed will truly help you a lot later in your life.
You have much to be proud of. Stop comparing yourself to your sister and accept yourself for the wonderful person you are — different from your sister, with your own sets of skills, style and personality traits to offer.
You do have some very good friends, so you are indeed popular with the right people in your life. And that is what matters most! And if you wish to expand your horizons and gain a few more friends, you can do so by getting involved, joining clubs you find interesting or participating in extracurricular activities at your school or in your community.
The more people get to know you, the more they will enjoy being with you and the better you will feel about yourself. And of course, a few of them, the really special ones, will also become good friends with you.
I CAN’T FOLLOW ALL OF HIS LECTURES
DR. WALLACE: My summer-school teacher has a heavy accent, and I cannot always understand what he is saying. He’s really smart and friendly and I like him a lot, but I feel bad that I can’t always keep up with what he’s saying exactly. We do have a textbook, but his lectures jump around the topics, and I can’t always seem to follow what is going on.
I think a few of my fellow students may be having the same challenge, but so far, I’ve been hesitant to say anything because I don’t want to cause a scene in any way. What can I do to be able to keep up with the information he’s providing to our class better? This is a summer class, but I understand that he’s also going to be one of our teachers this fall, so I want to be ready in case I get him as one of my regular high school teachers too. — Not Hearing Everything Clearly, via email
NOT HEARING EVERYTHING CLEARLY: I believe your best bet is to see if you can lead the way toward having some printed materials made available so that you (and all of your fellow students) can more easily follow along with the lessons being taught.
This may present you an opportunity to lead on this issue. Be sure to sit in the front row and ask a lot of good questions. Then after your next class, respectfully tell this nice and smart teacher that you consider yourself a bit of a visual learner, meaning that you would benefit from a printed outline to follow along with in class.
Ask if you can access future lessons in advance and make outlines of the subject matter he plans to discuss. Tell him this would really help you and that you’d be willing to make extra copies so that everyone in the class who wanted one could use one to follow along. I feel this may be a good way to have him either allow you to do this yourself, or he may get the hint and take care of preparing a written outline copy himself that everyone can follow in the future. Either way everyone should benefit, and this would not only help you, but others as well.
Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected] To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
