DR. WALLACE: I'm a girl who is a freshman in high school, and my older brother is a senior. He's a fantastic student and is going to be a class valedictorian for sure this year. He's extremely bright, has a 4.0 grade-point average and is extremely popular with his fellow students and all his teachers.

So far, only one of my teachers has realized that I'm the younger sister of my brilliant brother. I'm a pretty good student in my own right, but I'm nothing like my older brother. I typically get two "B" grades for every "A" grade that I receive, so my grade-point average is something like 3.2 or 3.3.

The one teacher who knows that I'm his younger sister also knows how bright he is. Last week when she returned one of my test papers, even though it was an "A" grade, the teacher looked directly at me and said, "I expected better of you." I was shocked because I thought I had received a good grade, and I know I studied hard for that test.

Should I say anything to the teacher or to my parents about this? I really don't want to draw undue attention to myself, but I'm afraid that if I don't, I'm going to spend my entire high school career compared to my older brother. — My Brother Is Brilliant, via email

MY BROTHER IS BRILLIANT: Yes, you should absolutely say something to your parents. Your teacher was out of line to insinuate that you should've done better simply because your last name matches your brother's last name.

Addressing this problem early on in your freshman year will go a long way to establishing your own individual individuality, both in terms of academics and participation in general high school life. Hopefully this teacher simply spoke without thinking things through carefully, because he or she made a definite error with that comment, in my judgment.

A brief discussion between your parents and the teacher will keep you out of it and allow things to hopefully reset in a more low-key way going forward. From there, you can concentrate only on being the best student you can using your own excellent abilities — and not feeling like you have to live up to some higher standard than any of the other students in your classroom do.

MY OLDER SISTER KNOWS ALMOST EVERYONE

DR. WALLACE: My older sister and I get along really well most of the time, but now that I'm a high school freshman and she's a senior, she's starting to get on my nerves for the first time! The reason is, she's always telling me I need to be more sociable and make more new friends now that I'm in high school.

She goes on and on about how many people she knows, how many close friends she has and how many people overall know her really well at our high school. Everything she's saying is true, but the fact is, she's participated in sports and drama during her entire time in high school, and those activities have brought her a wide group of friends.

I'm just starting out in high school, and I haven't yet decided upon any activities, although I'm a pretty good singer and like music. But right now I'm just trying to adjust to high school life, and it's true that I don't know too many girls my age at this school yet.

What can I do to meet more friends and, maybe more importantly, get my sister off my back? She's been a pretty great sister up to this point, and she even lets me wear some of her clothes, shoes and accessories from time to time, so we're still close overall. — She's a Social Butterfly, via email

SHE'S A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY: Start by asking her how many of her friends have sisters who are either freshman or sophomores at your high school! Certainly there must be some of her fellow athletes who have younger sisters, and there will also likely be younger sisters at your age or within a year of your age within her drama groups as well.

Tell her you would appreciate any introductions she can make for you, as well as the opportunity to visit the homes of some of her friends when she is arriving or leaving during a visit so that you could say hello and be introduced to additional people, especially girls your age.

The fact that the two of you share clothes, shoes and accessories tells me that she loves and cares about you, so I trust she'll give you a little boost to get your social circle widened up a bit here in the near future.

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. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. 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.

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