He was given a level of responsibility that far exceeded his age.

Teenagers should not be wholly responsible for getting their peers to school. It’s very noble for a teen to take on driving their friends without cars or their younger siblings, but if that teen gets grounded and loses driving privileges, it shouldn’t mean that the kids that they drive have no way to get to school. Heck, in some states, it’s not even legal for a kid under 18 to drive with more than one passenger under 21. Teens do it anyway, but that’s all the more reason that they shouldn’t be responsible for driving their younger siblings to elementary and middle school. 

There’s a reason why we have school buses in the first place! Teens who are 16+ might not have cars of their own or friends/parents who can chauffeur them to and from school. It’s a shame that there isn’t better public transportation outside major cities in the United States, so teens can get to extracurricular activities without their parents’ help. On paper, there’s no reason a teenager shouldn’t be able to get themselves to and from school in a timely manner without relying on their parents’ or friends’ favors, but the majority of the country lives a car-centric lifestyle. If you don’t have a car, you might as well be a hermit who never gets to go anywhere! I’ve never felt more pressured to do anything in my life than to get my driver’s license when I was 16, and it’s no mystery why! The majority of kids in my town got their own cars when they turned 16, and getting their license was their ticket to having a modicum of independence from their parents. Without a driver’s license, their every move would be at the whim of others.