65 Girls At Area School Pregnant

[Guckert]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4885861/detail.html

65 Girls At Area School Pregnant
School To Unveil Three-Prong Program
POSTED: 12:30 pm EDT August 23, 2005
CANTON, Ohio -- There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.
The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.
School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies, but in response to them, the school is launching a three-prong educational program to address pregnancy, prevention and parenting.
The newspaper also reported that students will face mounting tensions created by unplanned child-rearing responsibilities, causing students to quit school and plan for a GED. This will make it difficult for the Canton City School District to shake its academic watch designation by the state.
According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July show that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between 11 and 19.
The newspaper reports that the non-Canton rate was 7 percent. Canton was 15 percent.
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this is the Funniest quote out of this entire thing

"School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies"

Who are these "School Officials"?? Bush and Laura??? Or their team of Idiots????

Sounds like a GOP based abstinence program to me. I would love to hear Bush and his brown shirts stories of Abstinence during their high school and college days. I'm sure they would not be hypocritical idiots on this one "sarcasm".

[asthmaticeog]

1. "School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies"

My guess would be fucking.

[tk2kewl]

3. that, combined with a poor sex-ed program and no distribution of condoms

would be my guess

[Julius Civitatus]

9. Exactly! They are taught lies and fairy tales

and what's even WORSE, these "abstinence only" programs are discouraging teens from using condoms by telling them all sorts of unsubstantiated LIES about their use.

Well, this is the result.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

27. Also a huge cultural issue

If girls are taught from the time they're born that the only thing they're good for in the eyes of God or their family is having babies, of course they're going to start young: whether to seek approval or just feel that they're being more mature. Education is for other people (e.g., men and those bookworms who will never find a man), and if you're going to get married at 18 anyway, why bother with those last two years of school. These are the "traditional values" being taught in some communities.

Too many women have been taught to define their self-worth according to their relationships with men, and sadly enough, for a lot of Americans, having a baby at 15 or 16 is just what you do in your community.

[displacedtexan]

5. You're over-qualified to work in that school district!

What the hell is wrong with those people?

Didn't they know how that answer would sound?

[lisby]

10. Hahahahahaha!

:rofl:


Lisby

[...of J.Temperance]

31. That's NOT strictly true. You can also get pregnant from the following:

Kissing..holding hands..using a community swimming pool..riding in the same car...sub-navel oral activity...not being able to tell the difference between an Indian and an African elephant...sitting next to each other in class...not liking 'South Park'...ANY form of sporting activity...being a resident of Oregon or North Dakota...watching too much daytime TV...being allergic to pollen...not being able to spell Napierian Logarithm correctly.

So, you see, it's NOT just fucking that causes pregnancy, there are a WIDE variety of other pregnancy causing activities.


I'm sorry if my sense of amusement is too oblique for SOME people.

[renate]

68. Frist says you can get AIDS from tears

so maybe you can get pregnant that way too.

[Skidmore]

32. Change the water coolers!!!!

It's the water, I tell you!! It's the water!!! See what taking out the soft drink machines does?

Seriously, I graduated in the early 70s and one-fourth of the girl in my class were with child or had child(ren) by graduation day. That was before the pill was available to unmarried women. In this day and age, there is no excuse.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

37. what an idea!

You think?

And what the hell are the administrators thinking?

[AngryAmish]

41. Best post of the week

You get a gold star.

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[zanne]

71. And when the babies are born, they'll say...

"It's a miracle"!

[Mad_Dem_X]

74. "A gift from God!"

A woman I know got pregnant at 19 from a guy she hardly knew. Her mom and step-dad were very religious and they talked her into keeping the baby, as it was "a gift from God." I had to laugh at that - No, it was a gift from a stranger because your daughter was too dumb/naive/whatever to use protection.

[liberal N proud]

2. That is abstinence education at work

[etherealtruth]

13. Makes one proud that our country uses such an effective ...

... and forward thinking program to deal with an epidemic.

[indepat]

21. Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

38. it makes something grow.

May not be fondness of the heart.

[Turbineguy]

4. It's those republicans!

they're trying to outbreed the rest of us!

[shanti]

6. it's very sad....

:-( my son is 15 and he showed me a website for one of his classmates. she was 14 and was showing off her pregnancy online. you have to ask yourself, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS!?

[displacedtexan]

11. When I was teaching, my pregnant students...

registered for baby shower gifts at Macy's and Tiffany's.

[genieroze]

7. "School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies"?

Oh Oh, I know what caused it. They just didn't say NO. /sarcasm

[bleedingheart]

8. It is not the school's responsibility to Parent these Kids but guess what

they get the blame anyways...

Guess who is going to raise most of these kids...grandma and grandpa...the people who should have been educating their children before this happened.


I am all for sex-ed but in the end...is it the school that is really to blame?

[RaleighNCDUer]

40. If the school is teaching abstinence only,

yes.

Bad information is worse than no information at all, which is what the kids get from their parents.

The kids will think they've taken a sex-ed class and will not seek out information on their own, at Planned Parenthood or the public library or any of the places they would go normally when their parents won't talk to them.

Worse than nothing.

[Ready4Change]

52. Check out the article I link to in message #50

Sounds like Ohios abstinence program is one of the really bad ones.

Truly is worse than nothing, as you say.

[proud patriot]

59. Abstinence only programs are great aren't they

:sarcasm:

[mtnester]

12. Jeez, how do 13.3% of your entire female student body (no pun)

end up pregnant? (on edit - at the same time)

Is sex ed really THAT bad in school? Or do we have parents with heads buried in the sand?

Since our son is twentysomething, I really don't know which one it is.

[Beetwasher]

14. I'd Be Willing To Bet They Had An Abstinence Only Ed Policy

I wouldn't bet the farm, but I would place a decent wager on it...Funny, it's not mentioned in the article though what type of sex ed the school had and if condom education was part of it...That would indicate that it probably wasn't...Yup, I'd bet a sizeable chunk of money they had abstience only ed.

[Ready4Change]

18. Can we find out?

I'd be willing to bet you are right. Any way to find out?

I mean Geez! My school was about that size, and I recall maybe ONE girl being pregnant during my whole high school stint. Now, there could have been lots of unknown pregnancies. A few girls dropped out, and no telling how many abortions there might have been. But over SIXTY? I seriously doubt it. I'd doubt half that number.

[Beetwasher]

23. I Dunno, But If You Find A Way, I'd Be Interested

I imagine someone could call the school and ask...What a shitty job of reporting though, unless they purposely left that info out (it wouldn't surprise me these days)...I mean, you would think that would be key information, no?

[Ready4Change]

50. Well, check THIS out:

Link to an article published this June, 2005.

A quote from the article:

'Huber added that there are positive results coming out of the state’s abstinence programs. “Ohio teens in increasing numbers are choosing to remain abstinent,” she said.'

Curiously enough, they are also getting pregnant at twice the national rate.

Heres another interesting link:

http://proliberty.com/observer/20000803.htm

Sounds like some religious nutcases are doing their best to screw up Ohios youth.

[Beetwasher]

53. Oh That's Rich! Positive Results=DOUBLE the Rate of Pregnancy!!!

Oh brother! :eyes:

Great catch! Man, the amount I'd bet on this particular school be an abstinence ed. school just went up a notch.

[Bluebear]

15. "School To Unveil Three-Prong Program"..LESS prongs, please.

Thank you.

[Beetwasher]

16. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

:thumbsup:

Damn, that was funny!

[Obamarama]

19. Aw man, you beat me to the punch!

Here's to great minds thinking alike, you pronghead! :-)

[Bluebear]

20. Great prongs think alike! nt

[Obamarama]

36. Hey...weren't you leaving DU?

Thought I saw a post earlier saying you needed a breather.

Glad you didn't go! :toast:

[Bluebear]

46. Rested and recharged

[GreenPartyVoter]

44. Doh! *lol*

[Obamarama]

17. "School To Unveil Three-Prong Program"

I think there's just one "prong" they need to focus on! LOL

[SoCalDem]

24. Someone needs a surge protector

:)

[lukasahero]

22. "Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between 11 and 19."

11??????

Once again, humor fails me.

[DaveJ]

25. Lack of birth control is the problem

The RW has got politically illiterate youth and their parents to believe birth control is bad until they are older. Real smart. :sarcasm: Although BC is the farthest thing from permission to have sex my wife put mt teenage stepdaughters on it, for other medical reasons as well as the obvious one.

[Javaman]

26. Hmmmm, could it be....

SEX!!!

"The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame."

I love the part about lax discipline. Try and tell a 15-17 year old to stop thinking about sex, LOL that's a good one. It would be easier to hold back Niagara Falls.

Holy crap, get some sex ed there now, and get rid of that abstinence only bullshit. Pass out at least 65 more condoms and call it a day.

Yes, Virgina, people are that stupid.

colossal failure*

[Southpaw Bookworm]

28. Videogames?

You'd think the effect would be the opposite: If they were more obsessed with gaming, they wouldn't be fucking all the time.

[northzax]

33. no, see.

the girls have sex with the boys in order to pry them away from their video games.

[SaveAmerica]

34. I thought you wrote 'vagina' Yes Vagina there is a BC Clause

[Generator]

29. It's the sex, not the video games

"The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame."


I think it was most probably the sex that was to blame. Birth control anyone? Ohhh what a concept.

Paging Hillary...

[walkon]

30. If you don't want teenage girls

to get pregnant then they must take birth control. Teach responsibility, other consequences of being sexually active, human anatomy and sexuality because it is educational. To prevent pregnancy use birth control. If there was a pill to stop sperm from developing then I would be for the males taking that. Teenagers can be protected from pregnancy if we want them to be.

[WMliberal]

35. pregnancies believed to be caused by "one horny guy"

[blueintenn]

69. I was at work that day.

Really. And there's no need to check with my wife. Honestly.

BIT

[jmowreader]

39. Yup. It's the videogames and movies to blame

See, if we could just convince these teenagers that videogames and movies are more fun than sex, we wouldn't have this damned pregnancy problem.

[robinmd]

42. Here's some info on the school....

It's an inner-city school whose zip code has a medium household income of $9,455 and tragically, like many inner city schools, it has a very low graduation rate.

http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/61685

Teen pregnancy among african americans is of epidemic proportions. 15% of all african american teens ages 15-19 are pregnant

http://www.teenpregnancy.org/america/statisticsDisplay.asp?ID=3&sID=20

It's really something that's unpopular to talk about which is really tragic. Ignoring the problem does nothing to combat the cycle of poverty.

[donco6]

45. Finally some fact injected into the ignorance.

Thank you.

And welcome to DU.

[MsTryska]

56. damn...it's like the 80s all over again it seems like.

babies are having babies again....


crack addiction has been replaced with meth addiction....


lay-offs, strikes, bankruptcies and corruption....


trickle-down economics is a blast.

[RosaP]

64. Still more info on the county...

21:03:50 15-Dec-2004 Combined Regular & Absentee Ballots
Recount Election
Stark County, Ohio
December 15, 2004
Total Pct
For President and Vice-President
NON - Michael Badnarik/Richard V. Camp 484 0.26
REP - George W. Bush/Dick Cheney . . 92,215 48.93
DEM - John F. Kerry/John Edwards . . 95,337 50.59
NO CANDIDATE FILED
NON - Michael Anthony Peroutka/Chuck B 420 0.22
Total . . . . . . . . . . 188,456 100.00

[iconoclastic cat]

43. What the fuck is the matter with Ohio?

[HeeBGBz]

47. Looks like the program has more than 3 prongs

Else they's very busy.

[KamaAina]

48. There must be a huge flock of storks

at a wildife refuge outside Canton.

I mean, it couldn't be, well, you know. Not in the middle of a good Gawd-fearin' red state like Ohio!

:sarcasm:

[hughee99]

49. What sex-ed programs were in place at this school?

It sounds like it may be time to rethink their curriculum in this area.

[Ready4Change]

55. Pretty good clue in the article I link to in message # 50.

Looks like Ohio was using one of the worst sorts of abstinence programs.

Sex MISS-education at its finest, and now presenting predictable results.

[edbermac]

51. What?? In Ohio, the heartland of America? In Bush Country?

No pun intended...:evilgrin:

[jmm]

57. Oh freakin' please

teens have been getting pregnant long before video games and TV in times with less "lazy" and "lax" parenting than we have today. They just had alot more people who were forced into shotgun weddings or teen age girls who went on vacation to see some relatives for a few months.

I graduated in 1998 and my high school had a worse teen pregnancy rate than that one. Our sex ed course consisted of being told how babies are made and watching a cesarean video. In 8th gr they did dust off the projector and show us a film about they dangers of teen pregnancies. How were a bunch of city kids in the 90's suppose to related to a couple of rural teens in the 60's? The only time I got detention that year was for laughing out loud during it. Curriculum is no good is the students can't relate to it and if it's designed by people who have to clue about the realities of what life is like for a teen.

[Orsino]

58. I know where they can find a hint...

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1500991.html

[Kolesar]

60. Ohio's abstinence-sex-ed program was deeply criticized by CWRU

Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland sponsored a study and found the program to be loaded with falsehoods. This was released a few month ago.

[donheld]

61. "School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies??"

Just a little prick :eyes:

Who are these "School Officials"?? Focus On The Family :shrug:

[Stuckinthebush]

62. Folks, tell your girls and boys about birth control

at an early age. Don't wait until they are 16.

Tell them about their bodies at a young age. Use the correct words to label parts (penis, not thingie...womb, not tummy....vagina, not woo woo). Also explain to them that their body is their property and no one is allowed to touch it without permission. Get them to understand how they are allowed to say NO.

Then, as they get into 4th, 5th and 6th grade, talk about puberty, reproduction, reproductive organs, masturbation, sex, sexuality, and especially for the girls, menstruation and what to expect. Don't act like it is something dirty because they will pick up on it. Talk to them about the natural beauty of their bodies and how they work. Tell them about sex and how babies are conceived. Tell them about puberty and what changes are going to occur.

Then as they get into Junior High reinforce everything and tell them about contraceptions. Tell them how they work, tell them what they do, and tell them how to use them. Explain the consequences of pregnancy and STDs. Explain how to protect themselves and to say NO if they wish. Do it in a loving manner understanding that you have a sexual being on your hands who needs all of the information.

Then constantly talk to them as they get older. Ask if they have contraception available when they go out on dates. Tell them you love them and don't want to see them hurt, but they can always come to you for advice or help.

Then, just maybe then, we will stop seeing children having children because their parents didn't want to talk about sex for fear of their children wanting to do it.

[wli]

63. a clear result of "abstinence-only" bullcrap n/t

[B Calm]

65. Is Canton Ohio a red area?

[ok_cpu]

66. No

Kerry won Stark County.

[RosaP]

67. Yep, Kerry won here...

...I posted the exact count earlier in the thread.

[bobbieinok]

70. well, there's your answer--it's the evil democratic/liberal/60s culture!?!

MAJOR SARCASM

[Moosepoop]

72. Stark County...

Soon to be renamed "Stork County".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

73. How shocking! American teens like sex.

Gosh! Who woulda thunk it. Things sure have changed since I was a kid. Why, we never even thought about it. Well...maybe a little bit..but only on Thursdays when our beloved homework was done.