Tom was one of the brightest boys in the year,with supportive parents.But when he was 15 he suddenly stopped trying.He left school at 16 with only two scores for secondary school subjects.One of the reasons that made it cool for him not to care was the power of his peer（同龄人）group.

    The lack of right male role models in many of their lives—at home and particularly in the school environment—means that their peers are the only people they have to judge themselves against.

    They don't see men succeeding in society so it doesn't occur to them that they could make something of themselves.Without male teachers as a role model,the effect of peer actions and street culture is all-powerful.Boys want to be part of a club.However,schools can provide the environment for change,and provide the right role models for them.Teachers need to be trained to stop that but not in front of a child's peers.You have to do it one to one, because that is when you see the real child.

    It's pointless sending a child home if he or she has done wrong.They see it as a welcome day off to watch television or play computer games.Instead,schools should have a special unit where a child who has done wrong goes for the day and gets advice about his problems—somewhere he can work away from his peers and go home after the other children.

    My motivation for starting our family tradition of reading in the car was purely selfish: I could not bear listening to A Sesame Street Christmas for another 10 hours. My three children had been addicted to this cassette on our previous summer's road trip.

    As I began to prepare for our next 500-mile car trip, I came across a book Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook. This could be the answer to my problem. I thought. So I put Roald dahl's James and the Giant Peach into my bag. When I began to read aloud the tale of the boy who escapes the bad guys by hiding inside a giant peach, my three kids argued and wrestled in their seats. But after several lines, they were attracted into the rhythm of the words and began to listen.

    We soon learned that the simple pleasure of listening to a well-written book makes the long miles pass more quickly. Sometimes the books we read became highlights of the trip. I read Wilson Rawls's Summer of the Monkeys as we spent two days driving to the beach. We arrived just behind the power crews restoring (恢复) electricity after a tropical storm. The rain continued most of the week, and the beach was covered with oil washed up by the storm. When we returned home, I asked my son what he liked about the trip. He answered without hesitation, “The book you read in the car.”

    Road trips still offer challenges, even though my children now are teenagers. But we continue to read as we roll across the country. And I'm beginning to see that reading aloud has done more than help pass the time. For at least a little while, we are not shut in our own electronic worlds. And maybe we've started something that will pass on to the next generation.

    I was in the seventh grade, and we had moved to New Jersey in November. By then, everyone already had had their own friends, and no one wanted to talk to a new girl. To make things worse, they put me in "Section L". I found out later that everyone called Section L "Loserville". It was sort of an open secret that it was the section for troublemakers and not-so-smart kids. When I found out, I wanted to scream. I had always been a good student and had amazing friends, and now everyone thought I was a loser!

     I did text my friends in Illinois almost every night, especially my best friend, Ana. At first my friends wanted to hear all about it. But then some stopped texting back once I said something about how miserable I was. One night when I was texting with Ana, I complained about another friend who had just done that.

     Ana's texts came really fast for the next few minutes and they surprised me. She said that she was tired of hearing about how bad everything was in New Jersey, too. She said she did not want to hurt my feelings but that I needed to stop feeling so sorry for myself all the time, I had to try to make things better.

     The next day, I thought a lot about what Ana had said. She was right!

     I wish I could say that everything changed overnight after that, but it didn't. I was still stuck in "Loserville", and some people were still mean to me, even though I tried to just stay out of their way.

     But what did change was me—I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and did something about making friends. I signed up to make sets for the school play. I met a lot of new people there, and suddenly I had friends to say hi to in the halls!

     I still miss Illinois sometimes, but life in New Jersey isn't so hard anymore. Even though I couldn't change my situation, I could change my attitude—and that made all the difference.

    New Jersey Middle School Makes Students Go Phone-Free

    A middle school in Union County, New Jersey, is forcing its students to stay disconnected in class, by prohibiting cellphones. Maxson Middle School Principal Kevin Stansbury put forward the phone ban last week after he noticed some major issues in the school. "Our test scores were down, discipline was up," he says. According to him, students were too focused on their phones to pay attention to their lessons. So, he purchased Yondr pouches for the school.

    Yondr pouch

    When students come into class each morning, they place their phones in the pouch, which is then locked up tight. It can only be opened using a special device at the end of the day. The ban on mobile devices applies not just during class time but during breaks, with the only exceptions being in times of emergency or in cases of students who need such devices to help with disabilities.

    Eighth-graders who spoke with News 12 New Jersey say that they noticed a change in a matter of hours. "It's just better for everyone because you'll understand how it feels to get more work done instead of paying attention to the phone," says student Charlene V. "I'm usually listening to music, but today I got to communicate with all my friends," says student Desiree Duncan.

    The program was originally met with resistance from students and parents, so the process was not that smooth. But teachers and administrators say that the program will have a major impact. "Students were talking and laughing and there were no cellphones other than being carried in the pouches," Stansbury says.

    Teacher Nia Cummings says she even noticed students bouncing ideas off each other in class. She says students used to give up quickly and just look for answers on their phones. She says they now try to figure it out themselves. "Everyone is socializing and eating lunch together. That's what I wasn't seeing enough of when phone usage was at its worst," she adds.

    Maxson Middle School is currently the only one in the district to use these pouches. Kevin Stansbury also called on all the schools in the community that it's worth paying close attention to cellphone issues at secondary schools and taking actions when necessary.

Dear Mary,

How are you? I saw you posted some wonderful photos of the coastline near your hometown. You're really getting into your photography! Right now I'm taking a break to write you an email.

Remember you said you'd like to come over to the UK sometime this year? Well, I was thinking that this year you might like to come to the Edinburgh Festival with me in August. I've got an aunt with a flat in the city center who could put us up.

Do you know much about the festival? It's very famous — the biggest, most popular arts festival in the world! There are lots of things going on — art exhibitions, concerts of all kinds, modern dance, a book festival, etc. The thing it's most famous for is the newest and most exciting theatre. People come from all over the world and perform in their own languages.

In Scotland you have the best of both worlds: culture and wild land. After the festival, we could hire a car and go up to some of the islands off the west coast, like Skye. The weather can be changeable in August, but the landscape is beautiful, with empty beaches and rocky mountains. It's the perfect place for you to take photos. Afterwards, we could head back to the east coast and visit my friend Rob in St. Andrews. It's really pretty and Rob's enjoyable to be with. You'd get on well with him.

So, why don't you have a think about it and then get back to me? Take your time, there's no rush.

Speak to you soon.

Yours,

Sophie