Q: How can we, as teachers, motivate or encourage our very bright teenage students who think that "grades are not important, the world can offer nothing good and life is just a routine?"

A: Tweens and teens can struggle with deep questions during their pre-adult years. Perhaps when you think back to your own adolescent years you may recall a few times when you struggled with these questions, too. Because you are a committed teacher, some young people will turn to you with their sad moments. If children are reflecting true sadness at school, or expressing family struggles of some kind, they may be dealing with situational depression. If there are no true crises, teens can still imagine or invent them and feel depressed. As you probably know from your experience with them, those same teens could be optimistic the very next day. Mood swings can be unpredictable, and a professional counselor or psychologist can best determine whether your students are only having a bad day or are struggling with a more serious disorder.

If you think you can convince a sad child to talk with the school counselor, that would be the next logical step. If your best guess is that the child you are hearing these words from is seriously depressed and at risk, it's best to report that to the parent. If the parent takes the report seriously and seems responsive, getting the child outside help, you can hope the child is being guided well. If there is any suggestion that the students to whom you are talking could cause harm to themselves or others, you are responsible for reporting that to child protective services, and I am sure that your school principal has made you aware of that responsibility and can provide a phone number for you to call immediately.

Hopefully my response to your question is more extreme than warranted given your students' behaviors. I would advise first trying to answer these adolescent questions with solid common sense answers such as the following:

1. Your grades are important communicators to not only your parents, but also to educators in the next steps of your learning process. They communicate how ready you are to move forward in the educational process and whether you have the capabilities and work ethic needed to enroll in directions that will allow you to choose a beneficial lifetime career.

2. If you have a beneficial lifetime career and can make a living, you can plan a good life for yourself. You may also choose someday to marry and have a family.

3. While there is always a certain amount of routine to people's lives, the routines can be very positive, very interesting and can include plenty of love and fun. Although all people have ups and downs in their lives, most people feel very appreciative for the good times and feel even better about their lives when they have opportunities to help others have better lives.

Don't be surprised if the teens you chat with and listen to tell you that you are just saying what their parents have already told them. See that as an indicator of a good caring family to which they belong, and assure them that they have very wise parents. They may be on the outs with their parents that day, thus their complaints about life to you.

Teaching is a career that is about much more than the content of your curriculum. Your psychological understanding, support and sensitivity can guide you to helping children with their normal social and emotional needs as well, and someday those students will remember that you made a positive difference in their lives.

For free newsletters entitled Growing Up Too Fast — High School Students At Risk, and/or How Are Your Children's Social Skills, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the address below. Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or [email protected]. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.