Lock up your daughters....

[zarn02]

wow. that's make the beast with two backsed up.



(yup. all i've got is obvious observations. nothing to see here, move along...)

[Sinister]

Keep in mind that this is a quote from a teenager, not an adult.

Right, but think about that: in order to get unconditional love (her words), she has to get pregnant?  Talk about a cry for help/love/acceptance!  Man.

[Smiling End]

We're not gonna make it are we?  People I mean.

[zarn02]

We're not gonna make it are we?  People I mean.

it is in your nature to destroy yourselves.

[Xiphias]

It sure seems that the parents of these girls took no interest in the lives of their daughters. My five year old knows how important family is and that Mom and Dad are always in her corner.

Rob

[duc_fan]

*sigh* I am so gonna wind up banned. 

There's little way around this, so I'm just gonna put it out there...



I found agape love (real love).

Anybody else can too.

His name is Christ.

You don't need to have a baby in order to find someone to love you.



Sorry for violating the religion rule, but I felt the above observation needed to be made.

(anyone who reads my screen name should've seen that one coming from a mile away)


On a non-religious front: it obviously did not occur to any of these girls that one needs to have a sense of self-worth BEFORE one can inspire the same feeling in one's offspring.  And, if you really love your offspring, you'll want to raise them to be well-founded.

This is the problem with the "pool of fools" mentality.  You isolate a bunch of people of the same age all day every day, and this is one of the many problems you get.  Age integration is a necessity.  Whether it's through Big Brother/Big Sister, or home education, or some other form of adult interaction... kids need to have friends and role models of a variety of ages.  An age-segregated school system, which is encouraged by a society that views age segregation as "normal", will have certain inherent problems, such as the one in this news story.

Age integration.  We need it.



(DISCLAIMER: This is all my personal opinion, which has been formed by a combination of real-world observation, personal experience, and being taught by those who are considerably wiser than myself.  Take it with a grain of salt, and filtered through the lens of your own worldview.)

[gage]

People can point the finger at the parents all day and say they are no good or they are doing a crappy job raising their kids, you can say they should spend more time with them, educating them etc. but at the same time expect them to work full time and stay away from social welfare.

I guess my point is that parents have an incredibly difficult time reversing the effects of society. A society which has somehow got us to this point where 17 girls thought it would be fun to get pregnant.

Then again, I'm probably full of shit. Oh and Gloucester is hardly reeling from a lack of the fishing industry as the author would have you believe. There are a number of alternative industires located throughout the area. The author has watched "A perfect Storm" a few too many times and should try venturing a mile from the touristed waterfront.

[red baron]

"fiercely Catholic enclave".


where were these type of girls in Sunday school?


Billy Joel is gonna have to re-write the song.

[tommys67]

*sigh* I am so gonna wind up banned. 

There's little way around this, so I'm just gonna put it out there...



I found agape love (real love).

Anybody else can too.

His name is Christ.

You don't need to have a baby in order to find someone to love you.



Sorry for violating the religion rule, but I felt the above observation needed to be made.

(anyone who reads my screen name should've seen that one coming from a mile away)

If I can go off on a few tangents about being an Atheist, you shouldn't have any problems

Although... anything further and we should take it to the Politics Forum

[Big Troubled Bear]

It`s official the worlds gone bad, and it`s not global warmings fault

[junior varsity]

Al Gore's Fault.

[ryandalling]

Wow.... a lot of great responses to the article. It is nice to see that we still have people passionate about things around here. It was getting too quiet.  If only the parents of those girls were as passionate about life as you all are. Things might be different in the world. 

[Shortie]

I do agree with gage that parents have a very difficult job to do in this day and age. I am 24 and childless and I cannot imagine how stressful it must be sometimes, trying to guide them down the right path.

I do still feel however that in a lot of situations like these, parental guidence was definitely lacking somewhere down the line. The school trying to make contraceptives more accessible would simply be putting a bandaid on a much more serious problem. I'm sure it is also difficult to be working long hours to make ends meet in addition to raising an intelligent, self respecting teenager, but I have noticed that in a lot of cases, even when the parents are there they are not actually present.

What I'd like to know is, why didn't the school look into things sooner? When the school clinic is administering hundreds of pregnancy tests, that should definitely throw some flags. I don't know about you guys, but I find that little factiod rather alarming. If I were a parent of a child that attended that school and that information got out, I'd be totally bullshit about it.

[Kyna]

What I'd like to know is, why didn't the school look into things sooner? When the school clinic is administering hundreds of pregnancy tests, that should definitely throw some flags. I don't know about you guys, but I find that little factiod rather alarming. If I were a parent of a child that attended that school and that information got out, I'd be totally bullshit about it.

+1

I was more than a little dumb-founded when I read that the school hadn't done something (like notify parents, or send out a community alert - anything) when they noticed the increase in pregancy tests being administered.

I also agree with the point that has been made a few times here.  Raising kids in today's economic and social climate is not easy.  Most families require both parents to work in order to sustain themselves.  However, having children is a choice, and if you aren't willing to make the time to spend with your kids maybe you should think twice about having them in the first place.  People are selfish, and that doesn't make for a good parent.

[Pakhan]

I agree about informing the parents and urging other parents to talk and educate their children about the issue, but if the parents aren't concerned in the first place how much would it really help.