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Matthew Roddy, St Andrew's College, Blackrock, Co Dublin
You may or may not know that your Transition Year child drinks, but I assure you, if it hasn't happened already, there will come a time (3 a.m.) when your son or daughter will waddle through the front gate, trip over the front doorstep and fall flat on his or her face. You'll be the one standing over them shaking your head and having to ask the big question: "Why?"
"Uh.I dunno. there was nothing better to do."
However drunk they may be, they are actually telling you the truth. Before society criticises teenagers for drinking it should give us a choice, because the options for the 15- to 16-year-old who is bored of the formulaic movies and pop bands are pretty sparce. Were we allowed to go see music we liked, we might realise that there are better things to be doing than drinking. Yet we aren't even let into concerts like Mogwai at the Olympia or Don Byron at Vicar Street because drinks are served there. So instead we go find a little corner in some dark alleyway and get drunk.
Not serving drinks at concerts or having the bar separate from the concert hall would be a very small price for society to pay to give kids one more option, which might make all the difference.
Meadhbh HaicΘid, Crescent College Comprehensive, Dooradoyle, Co Limerick
September 11th, 2001, has been described as "the day that changed the world". I don't need to remind you why; the newsreels have already started playing in your head. The high death count shocked us, but what if I told you that four times that number of infants die unnecessarily every week?
Tragically, it's true. These babies are victims of a condition known as "baby-bottle disease". In the developing world the risks of bottle-feeding are compounded by the use of unclean water in the mixing of the formula, leading to diarrhea and frequently death.
The formula companies deliberately manipulate vulnerable mothers in poor countries, distributing free samples of formula that only last until the mother can no longer breastfeed her child. When this sample runs out, many mothers cannot afford more. To ban this unfair promotion could save the lives of 1.5 million children a year, but nobody moves even to publicise the story. It is important to remember that, for some, September 11th did not change the world.
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Media Scope is edited by Harry Browne.
