According to a Fox News report, some pregnant Denver high school students are requesting at least 4 weeks unpunished maternity leave from high school. Currently, school policy is to require the girls to return to school the day after they are discharged from the hospital or face unexcused absences until they do return. The teenage mothers-to-be believe that this policy is unfair to them and interferes with their bonding time with the new baby.
How incredibly sad.
I feel very sad for the new babies, many of whose mothers will be more concerned with whether they will be able to fit into their prom dress or stay out all night at a party than concerned about the well-being of their child. I feel sad for the child that will most likely struggle all his life with a single mom whose education didn't come first and is now forced (if the child is lucky) to work very hard all the time to make a decent living. I feel sorry for the young mothers who (if the child is lucky) will have to spend the rest of her life working a boring, unfulfilling difficult job just to survive each day with her completely dependent child. I feel sorry for the high school counselors who are recomending the "high school maternity leave" who truly care about the young mothers and wrongly believe that this is the best policy.
How very, very sad.
8 comments:
Abortion, missus! Why ruin two lives just because your abstinence-only education failed you?
Speaking as a public school teacher, what's even more sad is that they will probably get their request and the teachers (instead of the students) will be held accountable for getting them materials and keeping them on track...as if they don't have enough to do in a secondary classroom where 100+ kids come through his/her classroom in one day...and the students will continue to have no accountability or appropriate consequences for their decisions.
How sad indeed!
I really am surprised any of the counselors are recommending this. I'd have expected them to want to punish the girls for not exercising their choice to abort.
The girls I understand. They just want to take advantage of an excuse to skip school. And if they pass this policy, which rewards childbirth, my guess is that the birth rate at that school skyrockets.
To quote the immortal Jimminy Cricket: "You buttered your bread, now sleep in it." The girls have about 3 - 6 months of facing the truth about their pregnancy, during which they can arrange for child care for when they get released by the doctor and have to return to school. Let them follow the existing rules, which are better for them in the long run. They can bond with their babies after school.
Jacob,
I seriously doubt that these kids were only taught an abstinence-only based sex-ed class. That would be rare.
And why kill two lives when you could save two?
Beth,
You raise a good point that I wish I had thought of. The teachers will undoubtedly end up paying for this feel-good-but-best-for-no-one policy.
Add to the equation that when the teachers are asked to do things that are above and beyond, the rest of the students will ultimately pay as well.
Good points!
Skyepuppy,
I was somewhat surprised about the counselors supporting the decision, but then again, we live in a feel good society. If Something sounds good, it must be...right?
I would even go so far as to say that some of the girls legitimately do want to recover and bond with their new babies, but if that's the case, they should withdraw from school for a semester. I do not in any way advocate dropping out, but sitting out a semester makes the most sense. Becoming a parent totally changes your life. If I had gotten pregnant, even married and planned, during college, I would have had to sit out a semester at least until I felt comfortable returning to classes. Why should it be any different for a high school student? There are consequences to our actions, no matter how hard we try to ignore them.
Thanks for your comments, as always! (Have a great trip.)
Good point about skipping a semester. I hadn't thought of that. There's always summer school, if they want to graduate on time and need to make up a couple classes.
I was trying to remember what happened at our school when the girls gave birth. We had the smallest class with the way smallest female population, but we had the highest pregnancy rate (highest actual numbers and far and away highest percentage) of all the classes around us. I don't think our girls ever missed too much school. One of them I think ended up doing 1/2 day of school and 1/2 day of the vocational track.
All that to say, while the girls are still people who deserve to be treated with love and care, I don't think this proposal is a good idea. I like the sitting out a semester route, myself.
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