65 Girls at Canton Area HS Pregnant
Hugh Hewitt was talking this evening about a story that has him disturbed. 65 girls (out of 490) at Timkin High School in Canton Ohio are pregnant. Now you may know (if you have read this blog before) that I am a mother and as such issues like this interest me greatly. Hugh was of the opinion that the school should be held responsible, in large part, for this situation. Now I rarely disagree with the distinguished Mr. Hewitt (except for his opinion of Pittsburgh Steeler football, but I digress) however I must disagree here.
According to the story the girls will "face mounting tensions created by unplanned child-rearing responsibilities, causing students to quit school and plan for a GED. " Pardon my sounding like the teen-ager I'm not, but "DUH". Did you need a college degree to figure THAT out Mr or Ms. Journalist that wrote this story???? I graduated from high school in the 1970's and I knew that BEFORE graduating from high school.
The statistic from the story that stunned me the most was the fact that number of babies born in Canton, to girls between the ages of 11 (11 year olds????) and 19 is 15% and the number of babies born to girls in the same age group in outside the Canton area (does this mean the rest of the state of Ohio or just the surrounding Canton area?) is 7%.
Just what are the parents of Canton teaching their children? That have kids is an easy thing? Where are the parents of these girls? These are the people, dear Mr. Hewitt, that need to be held responsible for the predicament that these girls are in, not the school. The school does not have the influence that most pundits (and parents) give them "credit" for. Whether we realize it or not, our children watch our every move. They watch for us to do what we say. When they catch us in the "do as I say not as I do" mode, we loose them.
The school is reacting to this situation correctly. Now that there is this "epidemic" they need to give these girls classes on what comes next. Child rearing is not easy. Also, the fathers of these babies need to be included. It takes 2 to make a baby and the boys need to be held accountable for their actions as well as the girls. Next, I think the school needs to re-think their sex education cirriculum. Maybe a cirriculum that includes abstinance education? It certainly can not be as much of a failure as the current cirriculum is.
Parents - you can not be your child's best friend - forget it, it's not happening. So for heaven's sake BE THE PARENT!!!! Know where your kids are and who they are with. Be the "bad guy" once in a while and maybe, just maybe your kids won't end up pregnant and dropping out of school.
posted by The Lady Logician at 6:09 PM permalink
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