Dear FRONTLINE

I applaud you for your efforts to bring this issue to American families. I think that many families need to be aware of what their teens are doing and if they are destroying themselves and their future.

Teenagers these days face more tough choices about sex, drugs, and violence, then they did 10 years ago. I don't think they can make wise decisions on their own. Communication between your teens is very important.

I think the root of the problem lies with their stage of development. During this time they search for their identity. They are faced with finding who they are, where they belong, etc. And in doing so they face many choices and have to make tough decisions. Without the parents influence they will undoubtedly make wrong ones.

Y. Vang
Milwaukee, WI

Dear FRONTLINE

Well done, Frontline.

For the first time I felt sympathy with the conservative view that a cultural embrace of comfort and sensation could have a corrosive effect on people, especially unformed pre-adults.

I understand now why there is so much emphasis on religion in our country, that it is not a repressive gesture but itself a reflection of the embrace of comfort: Religion as a provider of the quick ready-made answer - no assembly required, of the guaranteed safe path.

I don't think the parents or their values are relevant to what's going on here. It's about teenages needing the validation of their own generation in order to integrate themselves into a realistic maturity. Parents can not be expected to provide a teenager's entire world.

Despite the initial syphilis cluster, it sounded like the girls were pretty sophisticated at this point about condoms and non-reproductive sexual positions. Certainly these teenage girls had few illusions. Is that such a bad thing? Wisdom has a price. I can't imagine them pining over boys, or believing that a boy is going to rescue them or that having a baby is going to provide life with sudden "real" meaning.

I honestly don't think the amount of sex was the problem. The joylessness of the sex was the problem. They did it because it was "cool", not compelling.

Again, great show. Frontline gave us a rare unromanticized glimpse of American aimlessness, of priviledged American kids looking around and saying "so what? Is that all there is?"

John Calendo
North Bergen, NJ

Dear FRONTLINE

Congratulations on another beautifully done authentic American propaganda morality piece. You really blew the lid off teen sexuality while implying that it's all just a lack of Christian prayer in schools. And here I thought PBS was part of the "liberal press" I keep hearing right wing conservatives berating. What's that old saying, "hide in plain sight?" I don't know who funds you guys, but judging from the techniques you used I'd have to guess they started with the great and glorious Ronald Reagan media propaganda blitz and just kept oozing out from behind the scenes. Of course, they didn't call what they were doing "documentaries" or "investigative reports," they called them "campaign commercials," but the tools are the same. It's too bad you didn't title the show, "Faster Bored Affluent Teenagers, Kill, Kill!" But, I must admit, once I receive a copy of the program on tape I'll finally have a perfect example for friends and neighbors of American propaganda techniques that I can deconstruct seamlessly right in front of their eyes. Unfortunately, it's the only way these days. But of course, I don't need to tell you guys that! Arbeit macht frei, nicht wahr? Keep up the Government approved status quo!

Robert Reames
New York, New York

Dear FRONTLINE

I believe that this story doesn't represent only Rockdale County, but it's everywhere in this country. See, the solution for this kind of problems is clear maybe not simple but CLEAR. When we accept a lot of wrongdoings and try to adjust our life accordingly it becomes impossible to really be on the right path. In other word, having schools with male and female in them is just wrong, even kids at a Christian congregation who were holding hands with each other is wrong.

Ask any male what goes in his mind when you he holds a female hand, even if he's teaching her the bible. Please let's wake up and condemn and correct the wrongdoing from its root and not adjust to it by finding patches, because we will see worse than Rockdale.

Mohammed Omar
Tucson, Arizona

Dear FRONTLINE

Last night's Frontline greatly reminded me of my youth growing up in suburban New York. It's a sad fact of today's society that parents are often no more mature than their children. They are so wrapped up in their own personal dramas that there's little time or attention paid to their children. Clearly, substance abuse is a factor in all teenagers' lives, but isn't also endemic among white upper-middle class adults? I can't even count the number of adults who condoned or participated in their children's drug use - and this is in one of the most affluent town in America! So much of what goes on in this country's wealthy burbs is never talked about - teachers having relationships with students, married teachers having relationships with one another, abortions, drinking, etc. Trust me, Christ and his Christian rock disciples are not going to make a bit difference.

New York, NY

Dear FRONTLINE

One solution that might help, at least a little, would be to synchronize parents' and kids' schedules better. Why do adults work from 9 to 5, while teens go to school from 7:15 to 2:00? This seems to me backwards: research shows that teenagers function best if they go to bed late in the evening, and sleep late in the morning. High schools that have tried opening later e.g., in Minnesota find that students perform better academically and are less depressed. And if they're in school from 3 to 5 the prime trouble hours, according to Frontline they'll have less opportunity to get in trouble. Why don't more school systems try this?

Shelley Rigger
Davidson, NC

Dear FRONTLINE

personally i was more shocked by the fact that teens as young as 12 and fourteen were chain SMOKING and abusing alcohol than i was upset they were having sex with kids their own age. maturity and decent, non-judgmental sex education can help them to develop mature and responsible attitudes toward their bodies. but in the mean time the alcohol and tobacco companies will make millions addicting another generation of americans...

daniel marco summaria
oakland, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

Excellent! Now lets all repeat the Rap lyrics those 14 yr old girls knew by heart. Then you will know who really guides or children today. The parents today want to be their childrens best friends and what the children want is for them to be their parents. To guide them restrict them and show them the way to a safe and happy life.

The children that went to the Christian school were such a stricking contrast to the public school children who got their Gov. issued condoms to use at their sex parties. Yet to be a Christian today is to be something evil. To be a stay at Home Mom or Dad is to have led a waisted life. To critisize what we see is wrong is to be a Racist or Homophobe or Religious Fanatic or the worst of all Conservative.

I truely fear for this countries future because surely we will reap what we sow.

Stephen Stafford
Tucson, Arizona

Dear FRONTLINE

The program tonight was an I opener for most, but I came from a very small town in central MN that exhibits most of the same traits as Rockdale County. Part of it is the parents fault by not teaching children one key aspect, the rest is the child own self that needs to act on it. When I was younger my parents taught me a little thing called "respect." Throughout my teenage years my parents pretty much let me do as I please, however I never drank, had sex, or tried drugs until I was 17. I'm 22 now and when I look back on it now I realize why I was that way. I realize it was the respect I had for my parents and for myself. The only reason I've tried any of those things is because I did want to "live a little" before I go to college. I've tried and done those things for the last 5 years, but not to the point where it will bring me down. I do it within reason. My advice for all you kids out there is, respect yourself enough to be able to live with yourself.

Dave Lusian
Duluth, MN

Dear FRONTLINE

It's amazing how the parents can't see the real problem. But what disturbed me mostly was the negative portrayal of blacks,e.g., Black youth in jail, reference to how much of a trouble makers he was, Negative Rap Music, etc.This was a perfect forum to ask the right questions,and another missed opportunity to educate.

Carl Skinner
San Francisco, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

I think the attention we're beginning to pay our teens is long overdue. As a teen I was an outsider, and many times dreamed of wreaking violent revenge on my peers for their ignorance. I also remember the amazing pressure both peer and hormonal to experiment sexually. I believe I avoided it simply by being too much of an outsider to have an opportunity. We spend too much time reporting "how it is", and not enough focusing on how it could be. As parents spend more time on the job and less with their children, schools are required to shoulder more of the parent's burden. We need to be more concious of where we're going and where we want to go. And have more pride in individuality.

Chris Scoates
North Vancouver, British Columbia

Dear FRONTLINE

Tonight's episode was very upsetting at many levels. I was disturbed that the program was talking about a syphilis outbreak among teenages engaging in "at risk" sexual behavior. Syphilis can be cured with antibiotics, but AIDS is fatal. The program failed to discuss how many of these teenagers contracted HIV. Shame on the school system for not having an adequate sex education program and shame on absent parents who don't even begin to have a clue that much of the blame for their children's behavior rests with them.

Nancy Siris-Rawls
Santa Barbara, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

The tone of the film grieves of the moral aimlessness of our society. But I believe the message might be simpler: That teenagers just like adults need a healthy and fulfilling sex life; that abstinence is the equivalent of malnutrition; and that this particular group of teenagers were suffering from a disorder created by social repression much like anorexia or bulemia.

Jonathan Sprenke
Seattle, WA

Dear FRONTLINE

Once again you have done an outstanding job in portraying the reality that exists right under our noses. I sincerely hope this serves as a slap in the face to all parents. As a high school teacher in a demographic much like Conyers, I see these things everyday. Lack of parental involvement, broken homes, and a culture that is directed specifically at young teenage girls are the major contributions to the degredation of any moral intellegence we could hope adolecents to possess. I am deeply saddened by what is happening to this society and applaud you for your bravado in broaching this subject with America. We must realize that these young people will be parents someday. Will they learn from their mistakes or are they destined to raise children as they have been raised? Furthermore, is this the beginning of a terrible downward spiral in our culture? For anyone who feels this Frontline is slanted, I encourage you to attend a high school dance.

Aaron Hirst
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE

The story this evening was compelling. Working with teens, I see the need for adults getting involved in young peoples lives. Not just being there to talk, but getting out there where they are. They do not want adults there and it takes a great deal of effort to do it, but if we are able to steer one in the right direction it is worth it. Besides, no one has to twist the dope pushers and deminted minds to spend time with and around teens.

David Allen
Ft. Worth , TX