“With the lights out it’s less dangerous,
Here we are now, entertain us,
I feel stupid and contagious,
Here we are now, entertain us."
– Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana, 1991)

I remember well when this song was first released in 1991. I was a senior in high school and this song quickly became the anthem of my graduating class. But more than that, I look back over the past twenty years and I realize, with great sadness, that it has become the theme song for my generation and those coming behind.

Here we are now, entertain us.

We see and hear and experience this expectation in almost every context of life today. There is a premium placed upon "fun” and the responsibility for ensuring a “good time” falls squarely upon the shoulders of everyone but the individual.

Let’s look at this in the context of a typical adolescent.

At school, we hear statements like “My math teacher is so boring.” The assumption, of course, is that the most important attribute of an educator is that they are fun. Their qualifications of experience, content mastery, and methodologies are rendered meaningless if they are unable to entertain the student. Thus, the focus has shifted from traditional schooling to a new methodology – edutainment – that utilizes more activities, media, and entertainment. The primary goal of most students attending school today is to have fun and to grow their social networks. The fundamental purpose of education is to promote learning. Sometimes the two can work hand-in-hand, but most of the time, real learning is work and work is not always fun.

This type of immature logic is repeated in the context of family life (“I hate doing chores – they’re no fun”), employment (“I need a new job – this one is so boring!”), and church (“I hope church isn’t dull today or I’m going to fall asleep!”). Again, the supposition is that these things exist only to entertain, and that the individual bears no responsibility for what he gains from the experience. That task gets relegated to the parent, pastor, employer, and teacher.

Too many youth want a fun process to lead them to a fruitful reward. But the proven model says that a fruitful process will lead to a fun reward. Psalms 128:2 reminds us that “when you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it will be well with you.” The fun that we should seek is not in the process of what we do, but in the joy we find in the reward of our efforts.

The human tendency is to only do the things that we enjoy. We like the things that we value and we value the things that we like. But our dislike of something does not, and should not, diminish its value or importance.

Immaturity says, “I don’t like _____ so I’m not going to _____.”

That I may say “I don’t like broccoli so I’m not going to eat it,” does not diminish the nutritional value I would receive from a regular diet that includes broccoli.

Yet, we hear this statement frequently from children today. I don’t like my parents’ decision so I’m not going to obey. I don’t like writing essays so I’m not going to do my homework. I don’t like the school’s dress code, so I’m not going to tuck in my shirt. I don’t like reading, so I’m not going to do it very often.

Statements like these, whether directly stated or just implied by their actions, demonstrate that they are driven by their desires for fun.

Are we raising our children to be governed by their feelings or by their foundation? Are we teaching them that dreams can become reality instead of reality shows?

A 2009 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that among all 8- to 18-year-olds the average length of media exposure each day was 10 hours and 45 minutes. This includes more than four-and-a-half hours of television viewing, two-and-a-half hours of music, and nearly 90 minutes of computer use every day. The study also found that 76% of this age group own an iPod or mp3 player and two-thirds have their own cell phones. While today’s generation of American youth are busy channel surfing and web-browsing, there is another population halfway around the world that is working hard now to ensure a prosperous (and fun) life later. (For more on this topic, read Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat.)

I like having fun as much as the next person, but that can’t be the end-all goal. I grew up believing that dreams can become reality. Too many today grow up believing dreams become reality shows.

We must teach our children to be mature enough to recognize that the greatest things in life will never be achieved chasing a good time. If they limit their pursuits and their efforts to the things that are fun, easy, and pleasant, they are guaranteed to live a life devoid of value, purpose, and significance.

Talk about boring.

Jim McKenzie has worked in public and private education and is currently a Christian school administrator at The Rock School in Gainesville, Florida.