Regular readers of this column might remember I had a somewhat strained relationship with my secondary school.

That’s what you get when you go to an all-boys Catholic grammar school run by a religious order at a time when corporal punishment was not only allowed but regularly dished out.

I really didn’t enjoy my time at school and would find any reason not to go in.

My ‘unauthorised absence’ record was once described by a somewhat despairing headmaster as ‘a significant factor in his inability to achieve’.

He was right. The more schooling I missed, the further I fell behind. The further I fell behind, the more difficult the work became for me and the less I wanted to be there. So I missed more school.

I used to daydream of the school burning down or being flooded out so I wouldn’t have to go.

I managed to cling on, just about, after being suspended a couple of times and I actually sat my O-levels (GCSEs to younger readers).

Needless to say, I didn’t do very well. Actions have consequences and I had to face up to mine very quickly.

After leaving school, I soon found out the harsh reality my four O-levels weren’t going to get me a good job.

I ended up in a factory office for a miserable year which proved to be the wake-up call I needed.

I went to night school at my local tech college and earned enough qualifications to get myself a job with professional training.

Many years later, I signed up for a four-year, part-time degree course.

It was tough going trying to fit in a full-time job, family life and studying but the sense of satisfaction on the day I graduated with my upper second-class honours degree remains one of the proudest days of my life.

I am now prepared to admit I had been remarkably stupid as a teenager.

Which brings me to the point of this column. It’s about teenagers, stupidity and schools.

Back in the days when I was working hard to avoid work as best I could, it was a very analogue time.

The internet hadn’t been invented and the idea of having a phone where you could have a video conversation with someone was the stuff of science fiction films.

Now, of course, we run a lot of our lives through our smart devices.

I was intrigued to see the story last week of teenagers using the video-sharing app TikTok to get ideas and instructions on how they could fake a positive lateral flow test result.

Of course, the point of this is so they, and those in their bubble, would have to self-isolate, thereby avoiding having to go to school.

On one hand, the teenager in me can only stand and applaud the ingenuity.

I can say with some certainty had this been available when I was at school, it is actually something I would have done, and would have enjoyed doing it.

But, on the other hand, the grown-up in me winced when I saw the story.

The past 14 or 15 months have been the most disruptive to education in living memory (unless your memory stretches back to the Second World War and not even I am that old).

The current generation of schoolchildren is already at a massive disadvantage and needlessly faking positive Covid test results – with all the disruption it brings – may seem like a good laugh.

But as I said earlier, actions will have consequences and those consequences may not be felt on a personal level for a good few years to come.

I don’t suppose I would have taken any advice from a ‘grown up’ when I was a teenager but just in case someone out there is contemplating following my example, I have a message: Don’t.

Put in the effort now and take the pressure off yourselves in later life. As I said, actions have consequences.