15 AND PREGNANT: A TRUE STORY

As I scoured the internet looking for a current event to discuss in my Generation Y GED class, I came across an interesting video report.

At a Chicago high school, 115 female students are either pregnant or already moms. Wow.

I asked my students (who range from 16 to 24 years old) to respond to this issue, giving advice on how the problem (yes, it is a problem) should be rectified. Here are a few responses:

I believe this number is so high because there is a lot of pressure in high school to have sex. Most of the students probably have never been taught to have protected sex or don’t know how important it is to do so. They see it on TV and think that it’s OK. It’s not.

Teen pregnancy has always been an issue that doesn’t seem to be taken seriously. There are so many reasons why teens think it’s OK to have sex or get pregnant. Some do it for attention or think they’re in love and will stay with their boy/girlfriend forever. Most practice unsafe sex because no one has made them fully aware of the consequences. But these students are still babies themselves and easily misled.

These girls don’t understand that it is not promised that the father will be there. He can leave at any time. Then she’s stuck trying to take care of a child when she can’t even take care of herself. I think there should be a class for sex education that explains all the diseases you can catch. They should bring in teen mothers to explain their day-to-day lives of raising a child. If more adults put effort in sharing how they feel and take abstinence and safe sex, maybe the percentage will decrease.

The reason why I think many high school girls are pregnant is because of their lack of knowledge… they don’t know what it’s like to have a baby. It seems like people don’t care about wearing condoms because they trust their partner’s word. (Don’t worry, I’m safe.) I’m from Chicago, so I know there’s more to the story. There’s a dance called “banging.” It’s just like having sex. You’ll dance with a girl and if you’re feeling each other, you take her home and have sex with her. I haven’t heard of this happening anywhere else but in the Windy City.

This is a very high percentage. It almost seems unreal. The students probably didn’t have a good role model in their lives, so they look for love in young men. They don’t understand that raising children is different from babysitting. They don’t realize how hard it is until it’s too late. Parents need to be tougher on their children. Teach them to wait until marriage to have sex. Teach them to use protection to protect them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. I hope that the mothers are able to be mature and responsible enough to raise their kids in a good home and loving environment, and provide the kids with what they need.

After doing a little more searching, I found another story on CNN. (You can view the video here.) Some agrue that seeing cool moms on television encourage girls to do the same thing. Others blame the school system and lack of parental guidance. Pointing fingers without taking responsibility is easy.

These girls are forced to fast forward through their teenage lives. Press play at motherhood. They will have to act like adults even though they are still in puberty.

What will become of their lives? More than likely, they will become dependent on the welfare system. I’m not saying that this will happen to all of them. I know many women who are not depending on government assistance, are college graduates and work full-time. But the odds are against the students of Robeson High School. Their quality of life will be hard to improve.

The school is trying to help by not kicking the students out, as did some of the parents of the students. The school is also converting a neighborhood crack house (I’m cringing right now) into a daycare so they students can still get an education. But what about prevention programs? These students need to be hit with reality. Being a parent is not easy. Nowadays, it seems like more and more people are using children to get a damn reality show. Is that what is encouraging them to be early parents? If so, the reality is pretty damn sad.