Straight Talk For Teens By Teens

I don’t read. I just don’t like it. Even Harry Potter I skipped. Sometimes on MySpace, I read a “fun fact” or gossip, but I’m not into politics or business. I have better things to do, and between homework, sports, and my social life, there’s no time.

I don’t usually read. I wasn’t a good reader through school so I got turned off. I didn’t even read Harry Potter. On rare occasions I read magazines from the supermarket checkout lines, but news doesn’t interest me because everything is spun and it’s overwhelming not knowing what to believe. Online, I strictly social network and get entertainment via YouTube.

Before I became socially obsessed, I read practically a book a day. I was raised without a TV, so books were how I learned and amused myself. I especially love Steinbeck, Dickens, and Austen with their good human values. But now with school, sports, and socializing, I prefer personal-development books because you can skip around and still learn. In tenth grade I lived with my dad in Europe and Europeans think Americans are really dumb because we are clueless about world affairs. That motivated me! On the Internet, I social network but I avoid celebrity gossip. I get news from my email home page feed and the ORF, an Austrian site with detailed world news.

I didn’t used to like to read, but recently I started Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms. My mom keeps thinking it’s assigned reading! I don’t read magazines or newspapers at all. On MySpace, I read election news, but generally, I don’t read politics. It’s embarrassing, but my friends and I go to a celebrity website for guilty pleasure. It’s meaningless, but that’s what we do.

Aside from school reading, I spend about 30 minutes a day reading things like Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, the Sacramento Bee. I also read regularly for pleasure, more than most of my peers, maybe because I had no TV growing up and still don’t. Right now I’m reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I use the Internet for research and social networking, but I hate reading online; it physically drains me.

I, and many of my peers, use http://www.google.com/reader/view/, a customizable news feed that pulls from thousands of newspapers, magazines, and online publications. During college, and now, after work, I come home and see all the day’s politics, economy, technology, philosophy, video game news, etc. It’s like reading 12 newspapers a day.

I know you want people to like you, but don’t sell out. I used sarcasm as my weapon. Someone would whisper, “What’s number six?” and I’d say, lightly, “Wouldn’t you like to know!” They soon stopped bugging me.

I’ve had phases where I asked the person next to me for the last few homework answers. Though appreciative of those who “helped” me, I respected more those who denied me. Taking credit for someone else’s work is not only unethical, skipping those last questions could be the difference between an A and a C on your next test. About losing friends, there’s the saying: “Those who care don’t matter, and those who matter don’t care.”

The next time this happens, offer to study together. That way you can make friends and still do the right thing.

I’d give them the wrong answers. Or have your parents talk with the school about the oblivious teacher. If they can’t tough out the class, they should drop it.

Even if you’re nice about it, most teens are vicious if you don’t let them copy your work. People always asked me for answers in high school and often they hated me because I wasn’t necessarily nice about turning them down. If I thought someone was copying my test, I would fill in the wrong answers. Sometimes, if a person normally did their work, I’d let them copy my homework. But seriously, the slackers didn’t deserve it. It sucks that they don’t have enough time, or they’re going through a rough spot, but that doesn’t mean you do their work for them. Free rides don’t help people. Just say, “You know, I spend a lot of time doing my work and if you don’t understand the material I wouldn’t mind helping you, but if you just want the answers, ask someone else.”

Letting someone cheat off you is worse than being a cheater. It represents a weak character — and repercussions for getting caught will be the same as for the cheater. You work hard to earn an A, so represent that! Be a leader others look up to, not a wimp who dispenses answers.

I’m also a freshman in honors. If anyone asks me for homework answers, I say, “No, but I can help you figure it out!” Think of it this way: if people get mad because they can’t cheat off you, are those the friends you want?

Stand up for what you believe. True friends will understand.

People always wanted my help, too, and I’m a nice guy so I’d help them. But letting people copy isn’t helping them, it’s hurting them — and it’s wrong. Refusing to help someone cheat shows you’ve got morals. If you’re worried about your social status, remember: nobody likes a cheater.

I go to a huge high school also, and I ran into similar problems when I tried out for basketball my freshman year. You go in thinking there is no way you can possibly make the team because there are so many better players. It’s all mental though. If you set your mind to it and give it everything you’ve got, you will make it. Most coaches prefer a kid who gives 100 percent every time over someone naturally good who doesn’t work hard. Yes, there probably are better players than you, but hard work and devotion will prevail every time. This goes for every sport and pretty much anything you do in life.

Just because you haven’t played basketball your whole life means nothing. Freshman year I took up gymnastics, which is really late for that sport. Even the gym owner said I was too old to compete. But I put my mind to it and 7 months later I went to state and scored second highest on vault out of hundreds of kids. So, go for it! And don’t forget rec leagues, they’re just as competitive.

I’m a freshman and I play basketball, which I’ve played for four years. But I also made varsity soccer this year after playing soccer less than a month. I’m at a private school with less competition, but, still, as seniors leave, coaches are looking for new players with enthusiasm and potential.

I played basketball in middle school and loved it, but when I entered high school I figured I couldn’t make the team so I didn’t try out. It’s one of the things I regret most, and I never really played again. Embarrassment of failure is a huge deterrent, but honestly, no one is paying that much attention. And if you do make it, you’ll be doing something you love, making new friends, and improving your skills.

The teacher in my life management class in college told us about a young man determined to get a college football scholarship even though he’d never played football before high school. He tried out freshmen year and didn’t make it. He tried out sophomore year and sat the bench. He got better and better and senior year he went “all state” and got that scholarship.