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I think one problem is that values are different now than in the past. In the past people knew more what it was they wanted and marriage was not delayed until ridiculously late ages.
Kids today are told not to marry until they finished a masters degree at least, even people will talk as though age 25 is terribly young to be getting married. It used to be almost over the hill.
In the past girls of 17 or 18 were contemplating when they would marry - one year? two years? three years? A life-long mate was just around the corner. They could wait for sex.
Biology didn't change, people didn't change but some kids are still told abstinence but they should wait until they're 35 to marry so it won't work waiting for marriage.
Also in the past boys were expected to be responsible, to be like men, if they sired a child, then they should do the right thing and marry the girl and raise the child.
The problem isn't so much that there are young mothers, there were always young mothers but in the past they weren't expected to go it alone.
Yeah, I agree with all the above.
That's why I focus on ending teen sex vs. ending all premarital sex, because the latter doesn't work so well for adults who delay marriage for a decade or two. In our religion, we marry early, and believe it or not, most couples are really pretty happy. Of course, not everyone wants to follow that practice, but adults can make a decision to come as close to a morally directed sex life as possible. Teens on the other hand should simply not be having sex, period.
The fact remains that both the girls and the boys are at fault. Kids at my high school (class of 87) were having sex all the time (at least they claimed they did) and either the girls were on the pill or the boys used a condom or they used both. To be fair, we were scared of AIDS at the time cause that was a death sentence so virtually everyone used a condom. They're much cheaper than a baby or a trip to a doctor for some shots or pills.
BINGO!
Responsibility and accountability.
One thing that disturbed me (in addition to the high pregnancy rate) was that the school would be taking money to build a day care center nearby. This is money that should be used for new text books, computers, library books, hiring more teachers, building maintenance, utilities. Instead it is going to a day care center.
Just discussed the story with my 17 year-old son. First impression: I am so old that of course it is surprising. (thanks for making me feel like a dinosaur)
Second impression: He doesn't personally know of anyone pregnant in school, nor has he seen anyone who is visibly pregnant.
His HS has approximately 1800 students grades 10-12. It is a relatively affluent suburban HS outside of NYC. The female student population is about the only thing that his HS and the one in the article have in common. Why is it that the surburban kids in this district are using come form of BC while the kids in Chicago are not? Kids will be kids, right? What message can those of us here send to the families there to help them with this problem?
Isn't this more of hussein obama's old territory? What happened to all his community organizing? This is the fruits of a more liberal country. Beautiful huh?
Straight to Obama....some of you people really need medication.
Just to get some facts out there on this issue.
Dealing with birth control. Condoms are readily available at this school and some other places not far from the school for students to get free of charge. So it isn't an issue of the kids being able to obtain condoms, they are just not using them.
As for the poster about it being Obama's old territory, well yes and no! Yes it is on the southside of Chicago, and yes Obama lived on the southside, but in a completely different neighborhood. In Chicago, different neighborhoods are like complete different cities. Many people that live in one neighborhood, will not go into or have anything to do with some of the other neighborhoods. Just like when recently Obama sent a couple of advisors to Chicago to meet with Mayor Daley, after the death of Derrion Albert. Did they meet to discuss the issues in the neighborhood where it happened? Of course not. They met for lunch at a nice fancy hotel. And refused to even step foot in the neighborhood where the incident actually occured.
Just discussed the story with my 17 year-old son. First impression: I am so old that of course it is surprising. (thanks for making me feel like a dinosaur)
Second impression: He doesn't personally know of anyone pregnant in school, nor has he seen anyone who is visibly pregnant.
His HS has approximately 1800 students grades 10-12. It is a relatively affluent suburban HS outside of NYC. The female student population is about the only thing that his HS and the one in the article have in common. Why is it that the surburban kids in this district are using come form of BC while the kids in Chicago are not? Kids will be kids, right? What message can those of us here send to the families there to help them with this problem?
When my cousin attended an affluent private school, she knew a lot of girls that would get abortions on the weekend. Their mom didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of a pregnant teenage daughter.
You might find some parents are more comfortable talking to their teens about sex than others and don't try to make them feel bad about having sex. It's nice to encourage abstinence but you have to be realistic and talk to teens about condoms, birth control, etc.
There will always be stupid people out there. I've never understood why so many girls ended up pregnant at my high school when condoms are so cheap and we had a health clinic less than 50 steps from our high school that gave you 10-20 free condoms if you asked for them. I guess they felt they were invincible...
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