A new salvo in the fight to prevent Latino teen pregnancy.
Comment: Both parties are to blame. Not just the guys or the women. Infect them with AIDS and Herpes, and see if they continue.
Comment: How about we teach young Latino men about birth control and having respect for women?? Condoms are cheap, child support is expensive. Putting all the responsibility/blame on the girls leads to an incomplete solution.
Comment: Keeping Latinas pregnant is an effective way of keeping Latinos mowing our lawns and blowing our leaves. Everyone needs a place in society. Why fight it? Are families with only one child really happier?
Comment: Because we can't all be Nobel Prize winners. We do need lower intelligent life forms to clean and do manual labor, it doesn't have to be only Latinos though. It can be anyone that does not take advantage of the US education system. This is the only country where a homeless man can go to a church or shelter, clean up, find a part time job, get a GED, attend Community College and who knows, maybe a writer. This is the land of second chanes.
Comment: Enter Your Comment
Comment: Enter Your Comment
Comment: Enter Your Comment
Comment: I think this article is healthy, educational, helpful,
useful, and good to us because it informs us about
teen pregnancy problem and shows us good ways to
educate teenagers. To me, teen pregnancy is really not
acceptable because teenagers should go to school.
Because most of Latino families are Catholic, so they
can???t accept to use abortion. We should make the
teenagers to understand that caring for a pregnacy,
and parenting a child are very hard and boring so they
should use contraception.
Latinos would have a higher teen pregnancy rate, and
other groups would have a much higher teen abortion
rate. Besides, I think this article should give
readers a specific abortion rate of white and other
ethnic groups. As we know no one is perfect, so if the
girl teenagers were pregnant, they would keep getting
pregnant, and their parents or family members should
help them caring for and parenting their children in
order to make them to be able to go to school as other
teenagers do.
I also think the teenagers should wait till they are
old enough to take care of themselves before they can
take on responsibility of another life because if they
can???t care for themselves then how they are going to
be able to take care of someone else
The main problem happens because of lack of education.
Therefore, education is the key and teen pregnancy is
no exception.
Comment: To view the statistics and program yourself, you can visit the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy website: http://www.teenpregnancy.org/
Comment: What I would like to know is how high the abortion rate is for White and other ethnic groups. Many Latino families are Catholic and therefore strongly opposed to abortion in the face of an unplanned teen pregnancy. It may not be that Latinos have a higher teen pregnancy rate, but that other groups just have a much higher teen abortion rate.
Comment: Pregnancy data include births, abortions, and miscarriages.
Comment: They are stating a pregnancy rate--not a birth rate in these statistics.
Comment: It is a losing proposition. The teen pregnancy will not go down as long as they keep preaching to the girls alone. A lot of these girls have having sex with grown men and it is not culturally looked down upon. The boys are told that having sex with more girls makes them more manly and the girls are told to wait to have kids. Something has to give.
They should spend as much time educating the boys about the danger of early parenthood as they do the girls. Until that happens, the girls will keep getting pregnant.
Comment: As a foreign born latina in her 30's who had a son at 20, I have to give MY opinion about this whole Latina teen pregnancy dilemma. My belief is that the reasons why our teenagers are getting pregnant is because of this ridicolous archaic machismo that exits in our culture. Religion is also a major drawback. The church is highly responsible for how the latinos think about marriage, pregnancy and education. In some latin countries, they tell people not to have sex before marriage. That is bs. Our bodies naturally want to have sex, it is what the body is for, but we are also evolved enough to make rational decisions to know when we cannot have children. Another reason why kids have kids is because of the parents. They never want to talk about sex, yet they have between 6-12 kids themselves, so how bad is it really if you have that many kids? The majority of girls that get pregnant come from disfunctional and lower income families. It is completely irrational to have a child as a teenager when you cannot even make an attempt to take care of it; it is also completly selfish to bring a child to this world because "God" says it iswhat you are supposed to do. People blame a God, or Gods for their irresponsible decisions. Parents need to take responsibility for their kids actions and not use God, socio-economic status or legal status as the reason why they don't take the time to talk to them about sex or education. Not knowing how to read or do do math is NOT an excuse to not help with their homework, to not be with them during dinner. Instead these mothers watch "novelas" and fathers drink with their buddies and whistle at under age girls. I know, this rant sounds very personal, and it is. But I can assure you that in one way or another, some girl or boy can relate to this. We need to stop this cycle. There is enough racism and prejudice out there against latinos and other minorities, we don't need to prove the iditos and ignorants right by not going to college, getting pregnant, joining gangs, looking the other way when a child is being abused, harboring pedophiles, doing drugs, the list goes on and on.....
Comment: I'd also like to add that it is extremely important to reach Latino parents, especially the mothers, and help to educate them on the dangers that are out there ,the damage that is caused and how to prevent these dangers from manifesting in their homes. It is the hardest thing to try to change a person's views about sex and morality but if they get a clear picture of how much is at stake it can make a world of difference and can encourage people to forget the fear of being dealing with taboo subjects and start some open dialogue with their children. Although my own parents are immigrants they were always open and frank about dating, relationships and sex (if i had the courage to talk about that!) This was typical of the families we knew. Social and economical factors in their own famles had much to do with what they were willing to talk about.
Comment: Teen pregnancy is not a good thing and although its always better to be positive in an already bad situation it doesn't change what it is : a bad situation. I don't think its appropriate to say that teen pregnancy is encouraged solely by "typical Latino views." As we know, education is the key and teen pregnancy is no exception. Unfortunately, i believe that Latino views are not the main culprit but more than anything lack of education on the part of the parents. If we think about it most of the Hispanic immigrants migrating here are doing so to search for brighter futures because they are stuck at often hard labor jobs in their own countries. They are not here because they are abandoning jobs that required education to obtain. Therefore the main problem is lack of education. Yes, Latinos values the family unit and tradition but not at the cost of sacrifycing their children's future. The main problem happens because of lack of education. We see the same things in the white culture and black cultures; the communities that are poor and less educated have higher teen pregnancy rates. So the point that I'm trying to make is that teen pregnancy is not part of a "typical Latino view" it stems from lack of education, fear of a new culture and ignorance. I am a Latino, born here but, from South and Central American parents. I am in my twenties and have yet to become pregnant and I have 20 more friends just like me.
Comment: Everyone who has commented so far seems to share the same attitudes towards "early" pregnancy. That is, teen pregnancy is bad. Maybe, though, if the people around these teens reacted differently, pregnancy could be treated as it should: as a good thing. I know a Latina teen who is a single parent. She sees her situation as a display of strength, not as a "bump in the road of life." Her relatives and friends share the same attitude, so she is handling the situation well. She is bringing her child up in a positive environment. Not only has the situation strengthened her character, but it has also strengthened her social and family ties. The responses in this forum reflect our societie's priorities: education which leads to a career which leads to money. A person is "well-off" if he or she can display wealth (expensive car, house, clothes, etc.) But are these measures of success inherently "right" or "correct"? Our ideals of success are defined by our culture, so we are free to redefine those ideals. Some people around the world could not fathom "holding off" from reproducing; it is their purpose in life. We can undergo a paradigm shift if we reconsider our purpose. Now that I've sounded off on ideals, I'll regress to the practical dimensions of the issue. In our society, generally speaking, a girl will undergo undue stresses if she becomes pregnant as a teen. With the shift in the structure of our lives-more time in school, older retirement age, longer life- it is appropriate to postpone pregnancy. There is a disunity between biology and culture. The respondents in this forum address how we should deal with that disunity. Just be aware of the major shift in values and priorities that has accompanied our disapproval of teen pregnancy.
Comment: Please continue w/ the practical. Early pregnancy = longer time in lower socioeconomic level and possibly early grandmotherhood (continuation of the cycle). There is enough time in a young girl's life to have illegitimate children and thus, as you say, define the Latin culture.
Comment: You have seemed to miss my point. First of all, socioeconomic level is not necessarily the best measure of success. Second of all, you use the phrase "illegitimate children." By doing this, you have devalued the child. YOU need to change YOUR attitude towards teen pregnancy. Education is not, by necessity, the greatest priority in some peoples' lives. Our society values money, and we see education as a pathway to a rich (monetarily) life. There are other ways to achieve a rich life though. I'll leave you with this thought... middle/upper class Americans are often called in the literature "The lonely crowd."
Comment: Continue, please, to back the practical. Early pregnancy = longer time in lower socio-economic level and probably early grandmother-hood. There is enough time in a young girl's life to have illegitimate children, thus defining the Latin culture, as you say, and carrying on the tradition.
Comment: in response to latinamom
I think I agree with your general sentiment, and that it might not be the traditional latino culture mentioned in the article, but not with characterizing it as "morals and family values". To say that is to imply that those teenage mothers and fathers lack those. It's not that they're bad people, they just might be naive. If anything, it's not that they're naive, just foolish or uneducated as to the dangers. It's that latter that has to be helped.
Comment: in response to latinamom
I think I agree with your general sentiment, and that it might not be all be owing to traditional latino culture mentioned in the article, but not with characterizing it as "morals and family values". To say that is to imply that those teenage mothers and fathers lack those. So what, you're saying they're bad people? They're just naive, foolish or uneducated as to the dangers. Why? They're not being told what they need to know.
Comment: I am a latina with two daughters ages 16 and 18. These typical latino family views are just an excuse. I had my first daughter at the age of 20 but married and thought that I was too young to have a child. The cost of living then was hard enough and not even getting any type of government assistance at that (both parents worked as rare as that may seem). Today we have instilled in both of our daughters family morals and values. Not typical latino family views. We have taught them as has the real world that a high school diploma no longer is sufficient. You must further your education in order to survive. Schools today make it much easier for things like this to happen. When I was in school if you became pregnant you went to a school for young mothers. You were not allowed to continue to go to regular school and have your children taken care of by other students (health class). Believe or not my children see all these young mothers and have learned by their mistakes. They see their struggles and how their world changes, but also how easy it is for others to live off of others. To say that the typical latino family values is why these young boys and girls are having childrenis not fair. Teaching your children morals and values and having communication with your children is the key to leading them in the right path.
Comment: in response to latinamom
I think I agree with your general sentiment, and that it might not be the traditional latino culture mentioned in the article, but not with characterizing it as "morals and family values". To say that is to imply that those teenage mothers and fathers lack those. It's not that they're bad people, they just might be naive. If anything, it's not that they're naive, just foolish or uneducated as to the dangers. It's that latter that has to be helped.
Comment: These terrifying statistics are in part yet another unfortunate consequence of Bush's "abstinence only" campaign. I'm glad to see that someone is finally taking the initiative to publicly identify that despite what old men in Congress think, teens will still have sex. It is only when we focus on offering each teen culturally competent options (abstinence, contraceptives, etc.) that we begin to see declines in teen pregnancy rates. Offering
Comment: Educated people are more successful than uneducated people. Teen pregnancy often leads to high school drop outs; as is the case with two of my current students and dozens over my teaching career. Getting a high school diploma gives one many more opportunities than does having a baby. As an educator I love to see young people open their eyes to the world of opportunities that are out there beyond their little world. shay913: make your teacher proud by being a more accurate speller.
Comment: I was going to reply to the comment by smgudz..But its a waste of time. This behavior will continue as long as we foot the bill.Cut off the money and even thirteen year old girls become so wise , it will astound everyone including their parents and the liberals who condone this type of behavior. Captain1956
Comment: Wow..finally someone taking notice.. Coming from a latino family and yes, even becoming a "statistic" by the age of 17 has been a hard lesson.. Now at the age of 35 with an 18 year old college bound son, I have fought long and hard to not allow my son to have those "typical" latino views of sex and women.. It is hard fight but is worth it.... Someone has to tell these kids that having a baby isn't fun, or cute.. and that it will cost you big $$ and cause you to be connected to someone through a child that you might not think is so HOT the way you did when you were young and dumb...
Comment: i think kids should wait till they are old enough to take care of themselfs before they can take on responsability of another life cause if they cant care for themselfs then how are they going to bne able to take care of sumthing else or someone else?
Enter comments if any for reporting abuse
STRATEGIES Harmonix, creator of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, is changing videogames.
Sponsored by
|
CAMPAIGN 2008 John McCain's choice to manage the GOP convention this summer is lobbyist Doug Goodyear, whose firm once represented Burma's repressive regime.
Sponsored by
|
Loading Menu
