Having Babies to Escape Poverty?

A new study in the UK has found that teenage pregnancy is better than a dead-end job. While I'm not a teenage girl nor do I even know one at this time, there are better ways of fixing one's future than having a baby in high school.

I knew one girl in high school who got pregnant. She didn't choose to get pregnant (she did, however, choose to have sex, but did so without the intention of bearing a child^*) and was criticized for the entire time she carried. It was big news in my town; the girl dated one of my brother's friends and we saw her almost every day. She did quite well through the pregnancy and the birth, finished high school and is reportedly living a life above poverty. I don't think she's better for it. More experienced, yes. Better off than having gone to college, no.

But times as they are, I'm not sure exactly what they think in middle school these days. The world's technology keeps us so connected to each other electronically that we're very removed from the real world, especially when one is young and impressionable. If life sucks so badly that a young teenage girl would rather have a baby than find another way to make herself succeed, parents need to be just a little bit more involved.

My mother is the executive director of a children and youth organization down in this area. I'm sure she'd have something to say to these kids pregnant at 13.

Then again, given the same educational environment I had in middle and high school, I might have chosen to have a baby and seek assistance from the state. That's exactly where my education led me, until the Army recruiter stopped by my work one day. The Army saved me, in a way. I didn't know what a bachelor's degree was when I finished high school. The majority of the teachers didn't give a crap where we ended up because they thought they already knew (and as you may guess, no one was success-bound.) I honestly don't know who the school counselor was, and I vaguely remember some kind of broad assessment telling me to work with my hands. That's it. All through high school I could see the end of it and nothing past. Nothing was there to prepare me for college; no one mentioned the possibility. I don't remember ever being challenged there; no real goals were set, temporary or long-term. I suppose I was destined for the Army, as the girls were destined for pregnancy, shitty marriages and the rest of their lives confined to one region of the United States.

Teachers need to wake the hell up, and parents need to open their eyes. Who's gonna take care of you when you're too old to wipe your ass, the high-school dropout you ignored?


_{* to my knowledge.}