Sociologists have been (23) out research into the social pressures of being a teenager. Many adolescents are unhappy at school because they find it difficult to make friends. This stress can bring on illness or result in poor grades. They may also worry about their appearance and often feel (24) enormous pressure to dress, talk and behave the same as others. This phenomenon is called peer pressure, and it is very common in today’s society. Advertising (25) a lot to the social pressures teenagers feel. Advertisers know how important it is to feel that you belong to a group when you are in your teens, so they try to (26) teenagers that certain products will make them popular with their classmates. Sadly, many teenagers act irresponsibly and even do dangerous things just to make others accept them. Peer pressure is often the reason for teenage smoking, drug abuse or dangerous driving. Teenagers need to learn to say “no” to social pressure and to find friends (27) they can talk things over with when they have a problem.

It is sometimes very difficult to decide which career to choose when you leave school. British students are helped by careers teachers, who inform them about different careers, qualifications needs and try to help them make up their minds. Mr. Hemmings, a careers teacher as well as a History teacher, talks about his experience.
“I’ve been a careers teacher for around five years and, on the whole, I’ve found it a rewarding experience. Our students have careers lessons once a week for the fourth and the fifth years (15 or 16 years old). My task consists of explaining as accurately as possible the qualifications required for each job, as well as the type OS work and personal skills involved.
Advising teenagers can be rather difficult - some youngsters have no idea at all of what they want to do, or of what the real world outside school really is. They come to me and say “I don’t like routine nine- to-five jobs... I’d like something exciting that pays well...” What I can say? That we’re running out of exciting jobs? But they usually end up facing reality and come down to their senses after a while...
Anyway here in school we only give them a piece of advice according to what we know about their favorite and weakest subjects, pastimes and personality. But if you ask me, things are happening so quickly around here, with our economy in the dumps that sometimes you don’t know what to say. A few days ago I asked a fifteen-year-old boy what job he had in mind and he replied “I haven’t any plans...You see, Sir, I don’t know what new jobs will replace today’s” What could I say?