High-income parents are enrol-ling their children in philanthropy workshops designed to teach them how to use their wealth to do good. Rich parents regard the workshops as a lesson in using money responsibly and encouraging their children to consider how to help others.
Close friendships among British teenagers appear to be declining, according to research showing today’s 16-year-olds are less likely than their counterparts 20 years ago to have a best friend they can trust. The early findings of a study comparing the experiences and views of teenagers in 1986 and 2006 reveal that the number who say they have no best friend they can confide in has risen from about one in eight to one in five.
Teenage girls and young women in the United Kingdom overwhelmingly believe they face a future of discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere, with half worrying that their careers will suffer if they have children, according to a survey by the Girl Guides. A report based on a poll of more than 3 200 girls, aged from five to 25, found a generation of career-minded, ambitious, independent people.
It is 3.30pm and a dozen little boys in long shorts, blue check shirts and ties are sitting around tables in a London schoolroom that is decked out with typical infant-class paraphernalia — alphabet charts, winter-themed paintings, and posters of healthy foodstuffs. On the teacher’s instruction, the four-year-olds close their eyes, then open them on command to describe a scene drawn on the back of a paper plate.
A black box emitting a high-pitched pulsing sound designed to deter loitering teenagers is being used in thousands of sites around Britain just a year after its launch, prompting warnings from civil liberties campaigners that it is a ”sonic weapon” that could be illegal.
Don’t worry about SMSing ruining spelling. It is more the ability to express oneself that may be lost. Claims that the explosion in SMS messaging among children is eroding youngsters’ literacy skills appear to be unfounded, according to research, writes Lucy Ward