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Imagine your daughter and her seven friends came over and you knew that one of them would definitely be pregnant. If your daughter went to Robeson High School in Chicago, this would be the case: of 800 girls, 115 of them are pregnant or have had a child. The one in seven rate is astounding, and there are hundreds of factors that may contribute to the school's pregnancy numbers.
These factors include a lack of access to sexual health education and pregnancy prevention and a lack of access to reproductive health resources. The school's students are largely from poor communities of color where teenage pregnancies can be high. The Principal of Robeson adds that absentee fathers may also be a factor.
At least Robeson is a school in which young women are not being thrown out or transferred to other schools. Principal Morrow notes, "We're looking at how we can get them to the next phase, how can we still get them thinking about graduation?"
So often we may be quick to blame or judge the pregnant girls in the situation, their parents, or other individuals. But Robeson's numbers are a product of a much larger institutional problem - poor reproductive health education in low-income communities. Educational classes and centers need to be set up that normalize and encourage the use of birth control methods and distribute condoms. A teen health center is being built across the street, which is a step in the right direction. But funding needs to be poured into the creation and maintenance of centers such as these so that teenage pregnancy rates go down. The health of young women of color need to be addressed directly so that they aren't struggling to raise children or give birth while trying to graduate from high school.
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I am a teen, currently taking a college course in psychology.
October 24, 2009 - 9:39pmYou are absolutely right. During the teen years, the parental influence lowers to almost nothing. But this is not the internet, phones, or "new technology". This is the way it has always been. This is the way it will always be. Parental Influence, peer influence, eventual independence mixed with some parental and some peer influence.
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@Comment by Anonymous on October 22, 2009 - 4:16pm
Cause you know, one minute conversations with kids is a good way to get them to see your ways for the rest of their lives............. LOL you must be one of the retarded politicians that promoted abstinence from sex instead of teaching about it...
October 24, 2009 - 2:44amThis Comment
well....keep in mind that a lot of parents find that a touchy subject, also for the last 8 years of right wing leadership there has been a bigger push for "abstinence programs" which are totally unrealistic and idiotic. ALSO there are a lot of old fashioned parents who are incredibly repressive and eventually lead to runaway daughters but the top reason for this phenemenon, the true and most notable reason is TEENAGERS ARE STUPID. i recently finished high school and i have to say that there is no evading this truth if you went there recently. if you really want to get them to listen to this sort of thing you need to be frank with them. "When you have a baby your boyfriend is not gonna take care of it, he will dump you leaving you with a ba by you can't take care of or want to and then you'll panic and possibly stab it with a clothes hanger or you will be too busy taking care of it to get the education you need to succeed or get out of the ghetto. So even if you do take care of the child by the time he gets older your going to have a crappy job or none at all and be almost completely dependent on welfare, fulfilling yet another stereotype." this type of conversation would probably be much more effective. peace out. stop coddling them and get serious with this.
October 23, 2009 - 1:17pmThis Comment
Just becuase you were a dumb teenager doesn't mean everyone is. Many teenagers may be "stupid", but it's simple math most does not equal all.
[foul language removed by Moderator]
January 25, 2010 - 7:59pmThis Comment
Disagree with everything u said, 1 minute of conversation is not going to get through some teenagers head when they are tempted to sleep with their loved one. Secondly, its not that the girls think they can raise a child, its that theyre dumb and careless and dont think twice before sleepin around and if they do sleep around they dont use protection. Not to mention they are probably from lower income families where morales and values are not taught much and it reflects in their decision making.
October 23, 2009 - 10:14amThis Comment
What are these morals and values that they aren't taught? To not have sex? Sex is a value now? Huh.
By the way, I don't think too many people here are remembering the importance of culture behind this. If these kids are religious, or come from a family that is, abortion may not be an option for them. To them, the poor decision would be to abort. Just keep that in mind before you think that your life applies to everyone else's.
April 15, 2010 - 10:50amThis Comment
When has sex NOT been a values-related issue? Yes, in every culture, everywhere, sexual behaviors have had values attached. If these kids are religious, they OUGHT to know that the proper context for sex (i.e. the one that doesn't result in illegitimate babies and poverty) is marriage. Yes, that's a values statement. It's an unpopular one these days, but it used to be extremely popular back in the days when children had both a father and a mother and were raised by them together under one roof and enjoyed familial stability as a societal norm. You're right that culture plays a HUGE role in all of this. Our culture SUCKS at providing a solid foundation and future for the children being born into it, and it is because of those values and morals that it has traded in for wanton sexual gratification.
July 31, 2011 - 9:51pmThis Comment
Apparently you people aren't realizing it's not about your class in the social world, it's about the the hormones and how sex is very open in these situations. As a teenager myself, I became more interested in sex when I was put into party scenes and it is all the rage anyway. Being in a "poor" environment only has a small portion to do with it. Because they have hardly the money to go out and do more things, perhaps that's a small reason. But, let's not forget every teenager gets over exuberantly horny at any given time. I was raised and put in a predominantly white middle to upper class high school and there was still an over abundance of STD's going around. Not that I had any part in it, but I still had friends that were.
Let's not blame it on them being lower class or their ethnicity please. Start being a 16 year old girl or 16 year old boy and actually living the life of "What the hell is Celibacy or Abstinence?" and stop living the life of "I'm very educated, 30 year old woman or man that didn't have children until I was 25 because I made the right decisions." It's over-rated.
October 23, 2009 - 8:58amThis Comment
Being smart is overrated? Setting higher standards for yourself is overrated? At sixteen, honey, I was well aware of the meaning of celibacy and abstinence, and yeah, I will take full credit for the fact that I didn't get knocked up in high school because I was SMART and I respected myself and my body. I was already old enough to realize that good things are worth waiting for. I didn't sell myself short. I didn't try to excuse stupid behaviors just because I was a horny sixteen year old. It's called self control, and you're capable of it, even at sixteen. Stop making excuses and start thinking like an adult with your BRAIN, not just your sex organs.
July 31, 2011 - 9:43pmThis Comment
I was from a poor family and we knew what happens when you have unprotected sex we just didn't care had to reason to live. Thats why my brother had a son at age 15 and now at age 24 he has 3 kids and no wife.
October 22, 2009 - 6:39pmThis Comment