I’ve been doing some research into issues surrounding teen pregnancy recently. I did research a couple of years ago when drafting my memoir, Subject to Change, about teaching science to teen moms. At the time, I didn’t collect specific information from most of the sources, but now that my book is nearing publication, I need them. So, I’m backtracking.
When I taught Freshman Composition to college students, I consistently advised them to collect all their citation information when they first encountered a source, so they don’t have this problem. Maybe I should’ve taken my own advice. To be fair, I assumed some of the stats I referred to would change and left myself hints for where to find updated data.
The statistic most important to my book and easiest to corroborate was the percentage of teen moms who graduate from high school. According to Youth.gov, only about half of teen mothers graduate from high school by age 22. By contrast, 90 percent of other female students do so. Our students matched that rate and then some. Very few students dropped out of our program.
There are many reasons, in my experience, for this failure to graduate. In some cases, girls are told they can’t remain in school while they’re pregnant. In others, the girl herself chooses to drop out to avoid feelings of embarrassment associated with pregnancy. For still others, pregnancy-related health issues and complications make it impossible to continue in school.
One year, we had a student enroll with her son, who was weeks away from his first birthday. Sherry (not her real name) was thirteen. When she’d become pregnant the previous year, her middle school forced her to move from sixth to seventh grade so younger classmates wouldn’t be exposed to her pregnancy. After her son was born and she was physically able to return to school, they sent her to our campus.
It was probably in Sherry’s best interest to move to a school specifically designed to support teen moms, but she couldn’t succeed well in seventh-grade science without having completed sixth grade.
It was probably in Sherry’s best interest to move to a school specifically designed to support teen moms, but she couldn’t succeed well in seventh-grade science without having completed sixth grade. She had limited reading skills and science preparation. Also unfortunately, since she was the only seventh grader on our small campus, she took her science class in the same room and hour as my ninth grade physical science class. Both she and the other class were shortchanged by my need to teach both simultaneously. But at least she was in school.
Sherry eventually graduated and received her diploma, beating enormous odds. The school provided support specific for pregnant and parenting teens. We offered not only academics, but onsite child care, nursing services, a WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) office in one wing of the building, across from classrooms. Our school counselors provided social service counseling as well as academic counseling. Planned Parenthood and a Head Start early childhood school a block away.
For students like Sherry, those supports propelled them across the finish line, and most are doing well today. I’m thankful for the opportunity to keep up with Sherry and other former students through social media; I’m proud of the ways they’ve have capitalized on their success in graduating. Sherry’s story could have ended much differently. She and her son might have both paid a very steep price for her failure to graduate.
Janice Airhart 