How has Charlie's outlook on life or school shifted from the beginnning of the story?

Charlie needed space to put things in perspective and the events needed to be real to him. His parents pointed out that his problems were not big compared to a starving child in China. Charlie, however, lacked context for this. Adolescents can be a time of self-absorption. I think Charlie is beginning to look at things from other perspectives to see what is real and what is not.