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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.
Add a Comment128 Comments
Well stupid is as stupid does, sadly kids are to intertwined in their social life to care about what is reality.
October 22, 2009 - 6:07pmThis Comment
No, they haven't learned from their parents. Most of their parents aren't around. Very middle-class white thing of you to say though...
October 22, 2009 - 5:45pmThis Comment
DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT TEACHING YOU CHILDREN THAT BEING STUPID ENOUGH TO HAVE UNPROTECTED SEX WHEN YOUR IN HIGHSCHOOL IS A WHITE MIDDLE CLASS THING1!!!! PLEASE GOD HELP US IF THIS IS NOT AN EVERYBODY THING!!!! THIS IS THE PROBLEM!!! PARENTS, WORKING 2 JOBS OR 3 NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. BLACK, WHITE, RICH, POOR I DON'T GIVE A RATS AS* TAKE SOME DAMN RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!! THAT WAS NOT A MIDDLE-CLASS WHITE THING, THAT WAS A SMART THING AND IF YOU THINK THAT NON MIDDLE-CLASS WHITE PEOPLE AREN'T DOING THESE THINGS THEN BING BING BING WE FOUND THE DAMN PROBLEM!!!! COME ON PEOPLE, WISE UP!
November 7, 2009 - 11:02amThis Comment
No matter how you look at it these kids are not listening to anyone, whether it be their parents, teachers in school or just as some people here commented on "common sense".
To have that many pregnant girls in High School something has to be done and the schools need to put that ahead of other things that are not as important at least until they get some kind of improvement. I mean, C'mon, is it that hard or expensive to get a knowledgeable person to stand up in front of them in a auditorium or even a classroom and tell them about birth control?
Everyone needs to stop pointing the finger and just give a hand and help.
April 19, 2010 - 12:39pmThis Comment
Coming from the mouth of an apparent racist...
October 26, 2009 - 1:00pmThis Comment
What you're saying is WAY more racist than anybody else's comments so far. You actually just ASSUME that just because a person is "of color", they obviously have no good role models, no ability to think before they act, no reason to be responsible? THAT is disgustingly racist of you.
June 4, 2010 - 3:23pmThis Comment
There you have it, the solution. Just get these kids to buddy up with a middle-class white role model and the problem is solved.
October 22, 2009 - 7:39pmThis Comment
Took the words right out of my mouth.
October 22, 2009 - 4:56pmThis Comment