Millions of dollars are being spent to ensure that teens are educated and not just told to abstain. Apparently the message is getting through. From 2007 to 2009, Georgia is among 10 states that experienced a drop in teen birth rates according to national statistics. It wasn't so long ago that we had the worst percentage in the nation for teen birth rates and teen dropouts. Hopefully with the decrease in the birth rate,we will experience an increase in the number of teens fininshing high school.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2011-02-03/ga-records-big-declines-teen-birthrates?v=1296760782
I agree with you Gloria. If we can educate our teens about pregnancy prevention (rather than just preaching abstinence) will help more teens finish high school. This hits close to home with me, as I currently work for our districts Alternative Education high school. We have about 40 students total and many of them are young parents, some of which have more than 2 children. All of them had previously dropped out of going to school. Thankfully, our program has opened new doors of opportunity and they are kicking butt to get caught up! :) I'm very proud of them. It makes me sad to think about districts without alternative forms of education. It would be nice if we could catch our students young enough to where pregnancy is not even an issue. It would need to be a team effort between teachers and parents.
ReplyDeleteDid you hear about a high school in Memphis that currently has 90 teen girls pregnant? (It is 11% of their population!). This is rare (hopefully), but here's an article about it:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/15/2011-01-15_pregnancy_epidemic_90_teens_11_percent_of_student_body_pregnant_at_frayser_high_.html
I thought I had heard the age of when students could dropout of school was going to change from age 16 to age 18. Has that happened yet? I am just trying to get my students to stay out of the juvenile home, but this has become a daily task. I wonder what the stats would say about youth crime?
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to wrap my brain around the vision of 90 girls in one school being pregnant at the same time. Whatever happened to clubs where young ladies learned more than sex and anatomy? Things like how to take care of myself in case this relationship doesn't work out.
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad day indeed.