Birth leave.

In the interests of abolishing sexism (Hillary, you fool!) the guys should have an equal opportunity to leave school.

 

I agree with you! I lived in Colorado for almost 30 years and the neighborhood where East High School is located was pretty run-down and had alot of crime when I left Denver in 2000. When I was going to HS, getting pregnant was the exception rather than the rule. We are definitely in the last of the last days! It won't be long before Jesus comes back for His church!

 

Punish the babies?

 

Sure. Let 'em have birth leave.

The only requirement should be that they keep up with their studies and turn in all assignments as if they were at school.

If they don't, then they should have to repeat all the courses involved.

 

Maternity leave is not needed because there are other options available, like dropping out and getting your GED later, taking homebound courses, or attending night school or summer school.

Maybe my sense of humor is a bit twisted, but I can just see it now:

student: Man, school is so boring. I wish we could take an extended spring vacation.

guidance counsellor: Actually, we can accomodate you there. It's called pregnancy leave. If you time your babies right and have one each year, you can lose an extra 4 months of classwork!

 

You know what is sad about your post??

I have dealt with many people who have that attitude.:BangHead:

 

Is is sad! We have a school in a neighboring county that has a special daycare for children of high school students. Currently, they have 8 babies. While I see the importance of girls staying in school, I can't help but think this just encourages more promiscuity. "Hey, I can have school and free daycare and keep dating around. The taxpayers will pay for my choices."

 

No, no maternity leave (other than a few days) for underage Moms.
However, these girls should be able to complete their HS education. That is important. A GED later down the road...just not going to happen in most of these cases. These girls will be working, taking care of a child, a home. No time for night school.
And ten years down the road after these kids are born...a HS diploma could make all the difference in the world when it comes to the Moms earning a living. They're terrible role models for sure, but as long as other girls see this is not an easy situation to be in, nobody's giving them any handouts, maybe that could have some impression on them.

love,

Sopranette

 

I agree with this. Why force a new mother to be physically removed from her baby?

I understand that we don't want to encourage bad behavior, but I seriously doubt that people are going to desire to have babies simply to cut class for a few weeks, especially if the work is still required.

I think we should do everything we can to accomplish the following:

1) Ensure that the mother finishes high school.

If we think she's going to be a burden on society now, just wait until she has to drop out from high school.

2) Ensure that the baby is not harmed.

Removing the baby from the mother in its earliest weeks of life is simply not healthy for the baby.

 

In most cases it doesn't matter.

I've taught pregnant girls in HS who got the leave or who were homebound or who had to come back. Girls having babies in HS usually have a tough time continuing and/or resuming their education during and after birth. Its a terrible situation. It's nearly no-win from the time they get pregnant. You can almost count on losing the semester in which they give birth.

The thing that really bothered me in most cases was the fact that I and other teachers were frequently the brunt of their angst in not being able to keep up with their studies. Whether they missed a week or two (or were home-bound and the reports were that they did nothing but play with their babies), it was somehow always my fault that they returned behind in their studies.

This was one of the reasons I returned to private education.

 

Good point.

I don't doubt it at all.

I will amend my prior comments to include the proviso that there will be no return to classes without all work being caught up.

They'll still blame the teacher, but not in class, as there will be no returning to class while behind in their studies.

 

I am absolutely disgusted with some of these replies! :BangHead:

Newsflash: You might just have some teenage moms reading this board, and you are making those of us who are compassionate Christians look bad.

I was a teenage parent. I had my oldest son when I was 15 years old, and it was NOT because I was sleeping around. I had a relationship with one man, an older man, who I was with for a year prior to becoming pregnant and another two years afterwards. Go ahead and throw stones if you want, but just remember what Jesus said about throwing those stones! At my school, I was placed on homebound instruction from the time my doctor determined that it was no longer medically safe for me to attend school until after my six week post-partum check-up. I took care of my baby and kept up on my schoolwork, monitored by a tutor who stopped by my house once a week during the whole seven weeks I was on homebound. Once I was cleared by the doctor to return to school, I did so. I also got a job to help pay for my son's needs, although I was blessed with a mother who took care of a lot of his needs so that I could stay in school. That was my sophomore year of high school.

The following year, I got myself rated as a senior, continued working almost full time hours, and took classes in night school so that I could graduate a full year early. I earned a diploma with honors from my high school, and I decided to forego college and start working true full time hours, so that I could support my son. I still had to live at home because I couldn't afford rent, but I at least paid for diapers and milk, along with the majority of my son's other needs. Now, at 27, I take college classes online, while raising four kids, five if you include hubby :laugh: .

So, before you want to go making crass comments about teenage mothers and how society shouldn't do anything to help them out, maybe you better think about how much it would affect both the mother and the child not to be able to bond during that first six weeks. Maybe you better think about how it will affect mother, child, and society as a whole if the mother does not get the chance to complete her education. And maybe, just maybe, you better think before you make idiotic stereotypical statements about a person's willingness to work hard based simply on a poor decision that leads to a pregnancy. I would not trade my son for the world. He is my first born, and I often tell him that he was my guinea pig...I learned how to be a mom by experimenting on him. We've grown together in a lot of ways, but you show me a mom who knows exactly what to do with her first child, and I'll show you a liar. Teen moms are no different than any other mom...they need love and support while they learn to care for their babies. They certainly don't need people who know nothing about them telling them exactly what they've done wrong with their lives.

 

Yes, give the mothers birth leave with the stipulation that they make up the timr during the summer.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe most of them care.