He suggests parents, teachers and schools are often so focused on academic achievement that they overlook a key tool to keeping children emotionally healthy through adolescence, something that may be more effective than medication or talk therapy. “Schools are naturally keen to promote kids’ academic achievement,” Dr. Bukowski said, “but friendship is something that teachers might want to pay attention to. It’s an important value. People have often said it should be the fourth R; that after ‘reading, writing, ‘rithmetic,’ it should be ‘relationships.’”