The hardships of a teenager

Having just come across the following article, I find myself again asking questions along the lines of, "How stupid have we become?!"

The article: Sleepy teens could mount legal challenges against morning exams

If you can't be bothered to read it, the article essenitally says that 'experts have discovered' that teenage boys are not at their most alert at 9am, and therefore they could claim that they are being discriminated against for having to sit such a 'potentially life-changing test' at such an unreasonable time.

Now, the way I understand it, in the world of work you get told what time to be at work and when you will be working until. It would be ridiculous for a shop manager to annouce, "Tomorrow, we'll be opening at 11am, to make sure the younger members of staff are able to cope properly."

Thinking a little more about the wider picture...
- The average modern teenage boy spends a lot of time playing computer games.
- Spending time in front of 'screens' just before bed makes sleeping more difficult.
- The online community for computer gaming is at its peak at 9pm-1am.
- Many teenagers do not go to bed as early as they should.
- As people grow up, they become less attached to computer games.
- As people grow up, their priorities change due to having a job and making sure they are not tired for the morning work.

Perhaps, if teenagers saw their school life as an opportunity to get into a good routine which would greatly benefit them for adult working life, then 9am lessons, lectures and exams wouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps, the reason adults can better cope with those early mornings is because they can prioritise better.

Perhaps, 'rights of the child' has gone too far and some good discipline is needed: discipline to get oneself to bed at a sensible time so as to be able to get oneself out of bed at a suitable time the next morning.

Responsibilities need to come before rights.

'Experts' need to learn to take the wider picture into consideration before making their conclusions.

Parents need to take seriously their responsibility to properly parent their children (late nights and hours on computer games is not good).

UK policy makers need to get a grip on what things need to be enforced on teenagers to prepare them for adult life, rather than trying to make those school years more comfortable by pandering to the pathetically selfish wants of teenagers.

If I was told that in order to get the job I really desired, I would have to sit an exam at 3am, then I would do everything possible to make sure I was ready for it.

Let's take this a step further. Responsible people need to be ready for anything:
- If your house is on fire at 3am, you don't wait until 8am to put it out.
- Hospitals are open all hours in case of emergencies, and you would expect the staff to be fully alert if you were in a state of medical emergency.
- In the army, recruits don't expect wars to be fought only in the afternoons.
- The police don't close up for the night at 10pm because they feel a little tired and won't be at their best.

In the words of Andrew Wommack, "How dumb can you get and still breathe?!"