Re: “Our View: Wake-up call needed for new high school start” (Aug. 26):

Teen sleep deprivation – really? What is this world coming to?

We have resorted to treating the symptoms instead of dealing with the root causes of our everyday problems.

If enough people are speeding, what should we do? Increase the speed limit, of course! Then what will be the result? Those who used to go 70 in a 65 will now go 75 in a 70-mph zone!

If teens want to stay up half the night to watch movies or play video games and then can’t excel academically (or in some cases, can’t show up on time, if at all), is the answer to start the school day later? Will they then stay up later than before?

What happened to cause and effect?

I grew up hearing, “If you’re gonna dance, you gotta pay the fiddler!”

Let’s stop making excuses for poor choices and bad habits, and start raising the bar instead of lowering it. When we learn that others expect us to do right, we feel their respect, and our self-respect increases as well.

I think the ones who need the “wake-up call” are the ones who expect so little. We are not giving the youth of today a chance to grow up and learn what it takes to survive in the real world.

Kathryn Pluto

West Gardiner