Rock-a-bye Baby? Maybe

The "normal" pregnancy rate at Glouchester High School in Glouchester, Mass is four per year in a student body of twelve hundred, but this year the rate quadrupled to seventeen. Principal Joseph Sullivan suspected a prenancy pact amoung the girls to get pregnant and raise the children together by helping each other out. The expectant mothers were nearly all under 16 years old when they got pregnant. One of the oldest of the the group, Lindsay Oliver, 17, appeared on national televison said that was not true but just "a coincidence."

Glouchester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Superintendent Christopher Farmer and School Committee Chairman Greg Verga held a press conference at City Hall and called the pact a fabrication. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of a pact." Superintendent Farmer reported "There were a group of girls who were being pregnancy tested regularly, leading one to conclude they were not trying hard not to get pregnant."

Wait, Superintendent Farmer, that was 150 tests administered at the high school clinic which indicates to me that they were looking for positive results not failures. In fact some of the health care workers reported long faces when given negative results and "high fives" when positive. There is some slight preceived benefit to a teen pregnancy:

Extra attention (positive or negative) given by the school, the mother's parent(s) and boyfriend.
Clearing of the complexion along with a sort of senrenity nicknamed the Madonna Effect.
Baby will help bring the bond between boyfriend and girlfriend even tighter together.
The mother will become a more complete person.
Their favorite teen star has had (or will have had) a baby and look at how the media treats her.

I believe we should go back to the flour bag baby concept for a high school course called "Home & Family." It would be a coed course where couples would be paired up and given a ten pound bag of flour to represent their "baby." Babies must be changed, "fed" and given tender loving care. No tossing the "kid" in the locker over the weekend. The child must not show evidence of abuse (torn paper wrapper) or mistreatment and a log must be maintained about diaper changings and feedings. Both students must work together to obtain a pass/fail grade. This is not to be an elective course but mandatory.

The charm and idealized legend of being a parent will soon wear off and any glorified thoughts of being a single mother will opt out as soon as possible.

K.