90 Pregnancies at Memphis high school

[PhoenixAzul]

Man, I consider myself really lucky. I went through Pittsburgh Public Schools, and we had sex ed from 6th grade until 12th. Most of the time it was taught by a rep from Planned Parenthood, so we literally had every method of prevention taught to us, along with efficacy rates. And we were tested on it. And we had graphic illustrations of stds (oh yay). And the "Miracle of Life" video at least twice a year (once in bio, once in health) every year in high school. That has been literally SEARED into my brain.

If you didn't understand how babies got made, or how to prevent them, by the time you got out of high school, you had other issues to address. There was no way to escape these classes, literally no way.

And yet, I had more than one classmate with multiple children by graduation (and raised a huge stink about not being able to carry her babies to the stage for graduation (which she ended up not doing because she didn't pass...gym)).

Long story short: even the best sex ed programs have failures. Teenagers are still going to get pregnant, that's the truth, but man, give them all the information you can and keep giving it to them until they get it. Hell, the experience of having a Baby-Think-It-Over for a weekend made me never, ever, ever want to have a kid.

[DiamondAthena]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

Hell, the experience of having a Baby-Think-It-Over for a weekend made me never, ever, ever want to have a kid.

I threw my baby-think-it-over in the closet when it malfunctioned and wouldn't stop crying (guess it had colic) and took off for a weekend to see my college bf, how ironic.

[33girl]

We had an ancient health teacher that pretty much sent all the guys' boners straight into the ground. That was our sex ed.

Question: How big is this high school? I mean, 90 students out of 300 is one thing, 90 students out of 2000 is another.

[AGDee]

In the school district that my kids go to, the only "sex ed" they get is in 9th grade Health class. Not a peep before that and nothing outside of that class. Plus, they don't have to take that class in 9th grade, they can wait until 12th grade to take it if they want, but most take it in 9th.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by AGDee

In the school district that my kids go to, the only "sex ed" they get is in 9th grade Health class. Not a peep before that and nothing outside of that class. Plus, they don't have to take that class in 9th grade, they can wait until 12th grade to take it if they want, but most take it in 9th.

That's all we had, too though the class was required in 9th grade. I'm sure there were pregnancies at my high school, but no one heard of them because they were likely "taken care of". (I literally never heard of one, but find it hard to believe no one got pregnant.) However my parents sent me to a church course in 5th grade that did focus almost exclusively on abstinence, but at least covered basic forms of birth control.

I remember parents being concerned about the lack of education we were getting and a couple of doctors in the community held optional courses on pregnancy and STDs which almost everyone was sent to. It included all the typical disgusting STD pictures and such. But I do know better than to deny that the environment in the community had a lot to do with the absence of teen pregnancy at our school. These were motivated students and well educated parents that weren't interested in letting their child's future be put on hold...I'm willing to bet STDs were another matter though I couldn't say with any certainty how common they were. It's true that teen pregnancy is often not a result of just one cause, but I do think there is a serious lack of sex ed in general in high schools.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

Man, I consider myself really lucky. I went through Pittsburgh Public Schools, and we had sex ed from 6th grade until 12th. Most of the time it was taught by a rep from Planned Parenthood, so we literally had every method of prevention taught to us, along with efficacy rates. And we were tested on it. And we had graphic illustrations of stds (oh yay). And the "Miracle of Life" video at least twice a year (once in bio, once in health) every year in high school. That has been literally SEARED into my brain.
If you didn't understand how babies got made, or how to prevent them, by the time you got out of high school, you had other issues to address. There was no way to escape these classes, literally no way.

And yet, I had more than one classmate with multiple children by graduation (and raised a huge stink about not being able to carry her babies to the stage for graduation (which she ended up not doing because she didn't pass...gym)).

Long story short: even the best sex ed programs have failures. Teenagers are still going to get pregnant, that's the truth, but man, give them all the information you can and keep giving it to them until they get it. Hell, the experience of having a Baby-Think-It-Over for a weekend made me never, ever, ever want to have a kid.

1. OMGZ @ "Miracle of Life." They showed us this video in 8th grade - the boys were psyched... until the actual birth scene. Three boys puked, one screamed and the rest looked at all the girls like "THAT'S what your body does?!"

2. Planned Parenthood, huh? Interesting. and from 6th grade on up? Wow.

3. I was always SO JEALOUS when kids had that "pretend an egg/babydoll/sack of flour is your child for a week" project on TV. We NEVER got to do this. Though, by 12th grade, some of us had real babies to take care of, and for longer than a week.

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Hah, could be anywhere from 91-180.

Seriously. There HAD to be some double dipping going on. At least two girls are saying to each other, "our babies are gonna be brothers/sisters!"

Originally Posted by AGDee

In the school district that my kids go to, the only "sex ed" they get is in 9th grade Health class. Not a peep before that and nothing outside of that class. Plus, they don't have to take that class in 9th grade, they can wait until 12th grade to take it if they want, but most take it in 9th.

Same at my HS. This was around the time where "STDs" meant "herpes on the lip because you shared a soda with someone at lunch, but just play it off as a cold sore" and "teh AIDZ." No one took it seriously - even when folks starting catching stuff. I was most concernd about catching KIDS

[LatinaAlumna]

Our "sex ed" was in fifth grade. Girls in one classroom, boys next door. Girls get periods. I don't know what they ever really told the boys. Nothing more was ever said, and in my high school days (late 80s/early 90s) you were either a girl who didn't put out (and didn't have a baby), or a girl who had sex and eventually got pregnant. And if you got pregnant, they shipped you away to the continuation high school QUICK. But even with the lack of education, they would still only ship away about 4-5 girls a year out of a high school with 1,400 kids.

[Kappamd]

Our first sex-ed was fifth grade. Like LatinaAlumna, it was boys in one room, girls in another. Girls had the pleasure of watching "Miracle of Life," but I'm not sure what the boys did. We had sex-ed again in seventh grade health, and yet again in 10th grade health. We knew where babies came from, and our options to prevent pregnancy. None of that abstinence only nonsense. Out of my 800+ graduating class, we had only a handful of pregnancies, so apparently they were doing something right.

[BraveMaroon]

I had sex ed of various types from 5th grade on, but since Mom was a nurse and Dad was an Administrator at the county hospital, I was forever hearing cautionary tales of girls they had seen at work. They worked.

If you want to know what's an effective scare tactic, ask my mother about the consequences of using Coca-Cola as a post-coital spermicide.



Seriously.

[ms_gwyn]

Sounds like my elementary school and High School (mid to late 80s)...

and the only time I was in LA Unified was for 8-9th and I don't recall anything about sex ed...

Originally Posted by LatinaAlumna

Our "sex ed" was in fifth grade. Girls in one classroom, boys next door. Girls get periods. I don't know what they ever really told the boys. Nothing more was ever said, and in my high school days (late 80s/early 90s) you were either a girl who didn't put out (and didn't have a baby), or a girl who had sex and eventually got pregnant. And if you got pregnant, they shipped you away to the continuation high school QUICK. But even with the lack of education, they would still only ship away about 4-5 girls a year out of a high school with 1,400 kids.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

Man, I consider myself really lucky. I went through Pittsburgh Public Schools, and we had sex ed from 6th grade until 12th. Most of the time it was taught by a rep from Planned Parenthood, so we literally had every method of prevention taught to us, along with efficacy rates. And we were tested on it. And we had graphic illustrations of stds (oh yay). And the "Miracle of Life" video at least twice a year (once in bio, once in health) every year in high school. That has been literally SEARED into my brain.

If you didn't understand how babies got made, or how to prevent them, by the time you got out of high school, you had other issues to address. There was no way to escape these classes, literally no way.

And yet, I had more than one classmate with multiple children by graduation (and raised a huge stink about not being able to carry her babies to the stage for graduation (which she ended up not doing because she didn't pass...gym)).

Long story short: even the best sex ed programs have failures. Teenagers are still going to get pregnant, that's the truth, but man, give them all the information you can and keep giving it to them until they get it. Hell, the experience of having a Baby-Think-It-Over for a weekend made me never, ever, ever want to have a kid.

My school was a pilot school district, and we also started at fifth grade, but only went through 11th. We had to insert a diaphragm and put a condom on (on dummies, of course) for a grade. The book list included The Joy of Sex and The Kama Sutra. Yes, positions were discussed. The only thing that wasn't is slang - to this day, someone will refer to something sexual and I'll have no idea what it is unless I hear it in clinical terms.

I graduated with over 700 people, and there were only 2 pregnancies in our class (at least, from what I heard). When taught and absorbed properly, knowledge is power.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by LatinaAlumna

Our "sex ed" was in fifth grade. Girls in one classroom, boys next door. Girls get periods. I don't know what they ever really told the boys. Nothing more was ever said, and in my high school days (late 80s/early 90s) you were either a girl who didn't put out (and didn't have a baby), or a girl who had sex and eventually got pregnant. And if you got pregnant, they shipped you away to the continuation high school QUICK. But even with the lack of education, they would still only ship away about 4-5 girls a year out of a high school with 1,400 kids.

While only 4-5 girls a year were shipped away at your school, the school where they all went would have a disproportionate rate. (Getting back to the original article) So, this high school that they are focusing on actually went out and recruited these new moms to come to their school. Of course the rate is high.

[LatinaAlumna]

Originally Posted by AGDee

While only 4-5 girls a year were shipped away at your school, the school where they all went would have a disproportionate rate. (Getting back to the original article) So, this high school that they are focusing on actually went out and recruited these new moms to come to their school. Of course the rate is high.

Yes, I agree. My reply wasn't in response to the article (I was just adding to the posts on our "sex ed" memories).

[LatinaAlumna]

Originally Posted by ms_gwyn

and the only time I was in LA Unified was for 8-9th and I don't recall anything about sex ed...

I didn't attend LA Unified, but I am surprised to hear that such a large district didn't offer any sex ed to 8th and 9th graders.

[FHwku]

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

If you want to know what's an effective scare tactic, ask my mother about the consequences of using Coca-Cola as a post-coital spermicide.Seriously.

i'll bet they use Diet Coke.