This is an amazing and depressing statistic. There are 800 girls at Chicago’s Paul Robeson High School. Out of 800 girls, 115 are now pregnant or recently had children.
Robeson Principal Gerald Morrow responds with perhaps the most unassailable observation: “It can be a lot of things that are happening in the home or not happening in the home, if you will.” Hard to argue with that.
For the full story, click here.
Sheesh! I need to proofread my comments better. In my comment at 10:54 am I wrote:
“You can be poor and still sit your child on your lap and read to him/her at night, make sure you’re kids are in at night doing their homework and not hanging out on the street corner.”
That “you’re” should read “your.” Mea culpa…once again.
Mike,
My father was in high school in the late seventies and went to school in a predominately black community. He was raised by my grandmother, who herself was an orphan, all by herself. She worked two jobs throughout the time he was in high school and still had a huge impact on raising my father.
I think the problem is that there is a lack of responsibility when these situations arise and a young mother becomes pregnant. When my father was 19 when I became his first child. Because my grandmother had been such a good role model to my father, all by herself, he took full responsibility for the situation that he had created for himself. My biological mother left my father after they had their second child, my dad was 22. He raised me and my brother all by himself and did a very good job.
I agree with you about our society and how men are viewed as more manly if they “score” and about the sexuality of women. But I think the problem is a lack of parenting.
AY–
And just because someone is good at acing tests doesn’t mean he/she is truly well educated.
rafflaw,
I had a mixed bag of education. It was parochial school and main stream education. I am unsure which was worse. I do remember that I was a challenge for both. I did get what they called independent study in 5th grade.
Apparently this was not challenging enough and I finished it up by the end of October 68′. They had to mainstream me again and they did not have a curriculum for me as I had finished up 5th, 6th and 7th grade material in 2 months.
Some people are better test takers than others.
For sure, there isn’t just one cause for all these teen pregnancies.
From the article Professor Turley linked to: “And all of the pregnancies have happened, despite prevention talk.”
AND
“LaDonna Denson and two other Robeson students say parents not talking to teens and, in some cases, the pursuit of public assistance also factor into the pregnancies.”
Another thing noted in the article was absentee fathers.
AY,
The No child left behind tragedy is still haunting us. The mere reliance on testing to determine the success of a school is preposterous. Teaching to the test becomes the norm and the students are the losers. Subject matter that is not tested becomes left behind.
Mike,
I can agree with some of what you say, but to put part of the blame on womens lib and Roe V. Wade is misguided. The mere fact that women demanded their equal rights has no connection to increased sexuality of both men and women. In my opinion, the economics and the abstinence(religious standards are the biggest culprits. You are correct that it is a problem with many causes, but Roe V. Wade, which legalized abortions, does not bear any of the resonsibility. I don’t think anyone ever has had sex because they knew they could get an abortion. And having the access to abortions should reduce the birth rate,shouldn’t it? How do you reconcile the higher teen birth rates in many of the Southern states where the religious pressure to abstain from Sex may be the greatest?
There is no “one size fits all” reason for this. There is, however, a trend of some 4 decades standing that began with Roe vs. Wade. While RvW was a magnificent decision for rational thought it unleashed in the Fundamentalist Churches, political reactionaries and political opportunists the rationale to hit back at the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s.
To these cretins, the foundation of that sexual revolution were females who had discovered they liked to have sex and had a right to follow their urges. Tied in with this was the demand by women that they enjoy equal status with men, rather than subservience. This is very frightening to those of a particular mindset and is seen in almost apocalyptic terms.
Remember, the traditional Biblical and Koranic interpretations paint females as the seducers of righteous men and the creators of all evil. Original Sin anyone?
A female behaving sexually was seen by them as an evil person, corrupting male-hood and deserving of divine retribution. What better retribution for a sexually active female teenager than to have her life burdened with taking care of an unwanted child? That is why the anti-abortion people are also anti sex education and anti birth control.
The plain fact is that the feminine part of this equation stems from an unreasoned fear and loathing of the power of the female and their sexuality.
There is, however, a male part to this equation. Our society
implicitly teaches that young men who “score” are more manly. This provides encouragement for male teens to first brag of their loss of virginity and then to actually try to do something about it. In this “crusade” they are abetted by their fathers, who see their son’s success with females as reflective upon them and also proves to them that their son is a man. While these fathers may counsel their sons to use “protection,” their powerful peer groups sees it as condoms cut down pleasure and are for sissies. The truth is too that for a teen anxiously trying to convince his sex partner to give in to him and do it, taking time to put on a condom may interrupt the process enough for the girl to have second thoughts.
The other aspect of this is the false American belief that the only true sex is vaginal intercourse. This prevents many a young man from believing he has performed satisfactorily sexually unless he gets to penetrate. Finally, despite the rash of laws promulgated to ensure that the male support his unwanted offspring, the reality is that many escape doing so, or cannot financially do so.
This of course doesn’t even touch upon the problem of poverty and the fact that historically poverty has contributed to
unneeded children. I remember my father once commenting on the fact that his immigrant parents had nine children, the same as had my maternal grandparents. He said that without TV, radio and living in poverty, what other pleasures did they have but sex?
In the black community, despite the stupidity of pseudo-liberals like the late(unlamented to me)Pat Moynihan, everything possible was done through slavery and afterwards to destroy the strong family oriented culture of Africa and was somewhat, though not entirely effective. Poverty programs in the US like AFDC, specifically barred males from the household. Even after the Civil War, the Orphanage System was instituted, rather than providing support for family’s who had lost a husband. Children were taken away from their mothers, so as to allow the mothers to work and not destroy their “work ethic.” This created generations of orphanage raised and abused children who than were incapable in the main of being adequate parents.
Finally, when you live in poverty and despair, with little hope for the future and a disdainful society judging you harshly, a teen (and older man)develops the available ways of distinguishing himself. One way is by being a “stud” and how does one prove “stud-dom” beyond doubt, by the number of children fathered? What do we expect when horrible school systems for the poor and unemployment rates at about 50% for Black teens, leave these boys/men in a hopeless degraded system. We see in its’ wake gangs, crime, addiction and teen pregnancies. For the young impoverished girl, with just as little hope of escaping despair, the idea of some boy or man caring for them is a powerful incentive to give in to their desires.
I’ve realized that I’ve covered a lot of territory here and that this is not a place to give a full sociological run down of this problem. Suffice it to say that it is far more complex than pundits make it and it reflects quite badly on our society and the fundamentalist/extremist/corporatists that do so much to keep it going in the wrong direction.
rafflaw,
I am unsure of the stats in this area but I presume that you are correct. This is the first generation that has had to feel the effects of Reagenomics with the greatest impact. We are in for a world of hurt when W/43/Idiot Savant/Bushit etc did with his unfunded mandate of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.
Philosimphy–
I think there are many parents who don’t take their “parental” responsibilities seriously. Are you saying that such parents are absolved from shouldering any of the responsibility for how their children are raised?
rafflaw–
I agree. And I think that the single-parents who work and raise children who are taught the importance of education and studying and doing homework–whose children become upstanding citizens– deserve tons of credit.
Elaine,
I think we are pretty much in agreement, but the kids who do make it out of those bad situations and bad or non-existent support systems are the exception to the rule,unfortunately.
CEJ,
The so-called Fathers in this story are missing and may never be found. They leave these children behind to complete the vicicous cycle.
Elaine you say: “We’ve neglected our urban areas, given little help to the poor and working poor, etc. We’ve given tax cuts to the rich and spent billions of dollars on wars while our country decays on the inside.”
– and yet you still blame the parents?
rafflaw–
I was a public school teacher for many years. I know very well about children from one-parent families. I understand how difficult it can be for these parents. Yet, there are many individuals in similar situations who do their best to both work and be invested in their children’s lives. There are also lots of parents who are drug addicts, alcoholics, and parents who abuse and/or neglect their children.
I’m from a blue-collar immigrant family. I was a working mother–as were my mother and my grandmothers before me. (My grandmothers worked in leather factories.) It’s wasn’t easy. But if you’re going to have children, you have to accept the responsibility. You can be poor and still sit your child on your lap and read to him/her at night, make sure you’re kids are in at night doing their homework and not hanging out on the street corner.
(I have also seen children from two-parent families that were affluent–with just one working parent–where children had plenty of material things, but suffered from a kind of emotional neglect. Some of these parents were also drug users, alcoholics, and abusers.)
I agree about difficult economic times being part of the problem. I believe they have exacerbated problems that were pre-existing. We’ve neglected our urban areas, given little help to the poor and working poor, etc. We’ve given tax cuts to the rich and spent billions of dollars on wars while our country decays on the inside.
Good Morning, Rafflaw I’m glad you mentioned the baby’s daddies; just to clarify I was referring to the “mainstream media coverage.”
What I still find equally “amazing and depressing” about this report and almost all coverage on this topic (teenage pregnancy) is the total lack of information or comment on the BOYS or MEN who are the fathers or expectant fathers of these girl’s babies.
I guess they are just not considered part of the story!
I saw that figure in the Tribune and I was shocked. It still shocks me to see it again. That is one hell of a success rate for abstinence only techniques. I am beginning to wonder if condoms are not allowed in the city or is that not Manly enough for these Robeson “fathers”?
Elaine,
You have to realize that many of these kids are from one parent families and if the parent is working, it is tough to be “invested” in their children’s lives when you are trying to stay alive. The dropout rate is high and will always be high until kids are safe in the school and on the way to and from school. The economy has hit the inner city very hard and the economics are also part of the whole dropout problem.
And that figure is down from what number?
AY–
And because there are lots of parents who aren’t invested in their children’s lives…parents who are poor role models…parents who provide little guidance.
Parents like that are also one of the reasons why we have such a high dropout rate in many of our high schools in this country.
puzzling,
because we teach abstinence or we stick our head in the sand or, or, or, or….. it is the safe way to practice sex don’t you know.
We just talked about the amazing differences in teenage pregnancy when The Netherlands came up in the Anne Frank thread last week.
How is it that the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is nine times what it is in the Netherlands?
Hmmm,
Me thinks it is in the water….
or maybe the ….
Pizza dough….
or maybe way they ….
Grinder…..