DR. WALLACE: I'm the 14-year-old boy who wrote to you a few months ago that I hated school and was thinking about running away, or even worse, because a boy at school was bullying me every day. He demanded my lunch money and if I didn't give it to him, he hit me. I went to my counselor and the principal, but they didn't do anything to stop the abuse. Even though I was fairly big, I was known as a "sissy." I would just take it and never fight back.

You told me to stand up for myself and to defend myself the next time I was bullied. The next time was the very next day. I refused to give him my lunch money and he started punching me. I then jumped on him knocking him down and I got a few good punches in. I wound up with a bloody nose, but he had a lump on his head.

I want to thank you for your advice. I was suspended from school for a day, but it was well worth it. The bully also got suspended. The great news is that this guy has never bothered me again.

After you printed my letter and gave me your advice, I noticed in a column where a lot of people did not like it that you told me to fight back. It's easy for them to disagree with you and to say that fighting is never the best way to solve a dispute. But they were not in my situation. At times, when I was being pounded and robbed, the thought of ending my life flashed in my mind more than once. Now that thought is gone forever.

Dr. Wallace, I am grateful for your advice. — Pedro, Brownsville, Tex.

PEDRO: You are a sissy no more! I'm thrilled that I was able to help you sort out and put to rest a major problem.

I LIKE STUDENT REWARD PROGRAMS

DR. WALLACE: I read your column where a lady felt it wasn't right for fast food restaurant companies to give discount coupons as rewards to students. I am the manager of a fast food restaurant and we give coupons as rewards to exceptional academic students. We give these "rewards" to give back to the community and hope the students will enjoy our food and return at a later date to have lunch. Our school relies on donations to support student extra-curricular activities and I'm proud to say that we donate for this worthy cause.

But we are aware that if a student receives an award coupon it's the parent's decision if they choose to allow the child to eat at our restaurant. — Reggie, Iowa City, Iowa.

REGGIE: As a former high school principal in California, our Pacifica students were rewarded for academics, attendance and citizenship excellence. These rewards included preferred automobile parking on campus, reduced costs for yearbooks and class rings, sports attendance tickets and free admission to school drama productions.

It wasn't a perfect program, but it had more plusses than minuses. I believe in student reward programs when fair to all the students, not only the academically gifted.

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. E-mail 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.

Photo credit: Tim Sneddon