http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/1...

Statisics show that teen pregnancy rates have actually continuously declined over the past 30 years. What has gone up is visibility. In the past, pregnant teenagers have been removed from their high schools and hidden from the public view in shame. Now we have programs in place to allow these teenagers to continue their education and to enable them to stay in school and work towards a future for themselves and their children.

You are right, schools should not raise children....they already have enough to worry about. But if the kids are not getting info at home about STDs or how to be safe they need to get it somewhere. Ideally parents would do this, but in a perfect world every child would have two loving parents who spend quality time with them and teach them everything they know. We know that doesn't happen for a large part of the student population. Communities and schools are seeing the results of homes without that support.

latinmami2, you are right parents should be the ones to teach their children about reproduction, pregnancy, STD's....be we all know that many of the students don't receive this information at home. Do you know the demographics of Beloit schools...how many single parent or no parent households there are? Obviously many students are not getting this information and if they can get it somewhere else, great.

(and if you _were_ being sarcastic... wooooooOOOOoosh it went right over my head, over the fence, and into the parking lot)

No, latinmami, it is you who are most certainly wrong.

My God, the CDC collects FACTS, not opinions.

don diego- i am sure the numbers you are reading are someones opinion because i know that this stuff has always happened but now it is the normal thing happening, you can't tell me that there were just as many young mothers back in the day as there are now because that is a lie

CDC numbers show that the birth rate amongst girls between 15-19 has remained relatively the same in the past 50 years. The main difference is that girls were married much earlier and often not attending school after marriage. Personally, I would rather have a young girl pregnant and single than pregnant and married at 15. This is a classic example of people remembering things that did not exist. These problems weren't handled in public. But do not think that because you didn't see this as a teenager that it didn't exist.
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See for yourselves: cdc.gov

melstew, then there is more to the story...your daughter had income, or was under 22 and lived with you and you had income, don't try to pretend that your daughter was "neglected" by the system.
After all, she was the one who had the baby, right? Chose to? You say she "got nothing"...why didn't she go to work to support the child?

also i can bet most of the teenage pregnancies are because of parents that think the school should of taught their child not to be sexually active. the schools have enough to deal with gangs, violence, cell phones, drugs, cheating, and now they are suppose to worry whether or not your child gets pregnant what a joke lol

The School Board dropped the ball on this
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how exaclty did the school drop the ball on raising other people's children, yes the school is there to make sure our children get the best education possible, but it is our job as parents to make sure to put morals and values in our childrens lives and not just let them run around and do whatever they please. it think sex ed in school is great but that does not teach teenagers what emotional responsibilites come along with being sexually active. anyone who depends on the school to give their child sexual common sense is crazy

More proof that lack of proper sex education is detrimental. The less kids know about sex, the more curious they become, and the more likely they will try things to satiate their curiosity. Teen pregnancy is 100% preventable with the proper education and parenting. It sounds like both are lacking in this school district.

***Will I be a deadbeat mom??

Sex is a normal part of life and sex ed should be taught in our schools. We need to stop these hang ups on sex. we have evolved to procreate at an early age due to the fact that our ancestors didnt have nmodern medicine and you were lucky to live to 40. It takes eductaion not absitinence to help undue 3 million years of evolution.

It’s a tragedy that reproduction does not require intelligence.

With the downward trend of morals, ethics, personal and social responsibility, unwanted pregnancies will increase.

There are so many personal choices that affect us all.

***Will I be a multi-DUI offender?

***Will I drive drunk and kill people?

***Will I have car or health insurance?

***Will I make a home before I make a baby?

***Will I be a deadbeat Dad?

It is not the purpose of a school system, local, state, or federal government to make these personal choices for us.

Step up to the plate people; be responsible for yourselves and your family.

i dont know where you all of you are getting this free stuff. because my daughter was unable to work, she got nothing. no money no food stamps, they gave her medical. we supported her and still help her,the babys father hasnt even paid child support in over a year,and that was ordered at ten dollars a week. child support enforcement wont even try to get anything from him.so i would like to know where all this free stuff was when my daughter needed help.

Actually, I know of quite a few stories from the "good old days" in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s right here in Rock County, even right here in Janesville, of girls who became pregnant in high school.

I am reminded of the scene in Back to the Future when Marty is in the car with his mom in 1955: "You drink?! ... Jeez, you smoke too!"

In all seriousness what happened in the "good old days" was that girls simply "disappeared" -- often "sent to a convent up north" if the baby was brought to term and often put up for adoption -- or as others have stated the girl was forced by her parents to have an abortion.

These issues of teenage pregnancies, birth control, and abortion *were* hot-button issues in the 1960s: this is why NOW was founded in 1966 (successor to an earlier movement from the early 1960s); this is why Griswold v. Connecticut was decided in 1965 (percolating upwards through the courts on and off since 1943); and why Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 (percolating upwards through the courts since 1970).

All of those dates were the "good old days" when such matters were not openly discussed and mistakes were swept under the rug, one way or another.

Are children having more sex? Maybe; maybe not. We as a culture have certainly become more aware of teenage sexuality; however, we still have not come to grips with how to effectively deal with this issue. I think having child care at the high school is a positive alternative to what would have been a girl's choice thirty or forty years ago; however, I certainly understand that having child care readily available (perhaps even popular?) certainly lowers the risk barrier of having a child for some girls.

Did the school board's decision to drop all sexual health classes yield the spike in birth rate? Well, that is unlikely to ever be determined: correlation is not causation.

I'm torn regarding the day care.....its not totally free and the students have to meet certain requirements such as maintaining good grades and attendance, but if the day care was not offered how many of these mothers would drop out and be an even bigger burden on taxpayers without even a diploma?

EthanolStinks
Well....What else is there to do in Beloit?
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EthanolStinks maybe we could start our own gang
the over 30 oldbastards gang.

Board members couldn't decide whether abstinence, or a combination of abstinence and prevention should be taught, so they just dropped it.
Each board member should sponsor a child. Hell Ya!!!!! Why not? They supported this lack of education, let them pay the consequences of thier choices. Everyone else has to.........

I think that Beloit invites some of this by offering free day care for HS students right at school...

latinmami2, that is what state aid was designed for. To be sure a child born into difficult situations, has resources. While the ideal situation for the aid was a parent who died, or is laid off during difficult economic times... children born to lazy parents, mothers in particular with crappy morals seem to be the norm nowadays. You have families with generations of illegitimate children. It felt good so they "did" it. Consequences are not consequences anymore. They are just following the immoral lifestyle they grew up with.

Thank our legislators for the governing laws. Its too easy to keep popping out babies and dumping their support on the rest of us. Wisconsin has some of the highest tax tables in the country.

Now with the economy in the crapper, the only ones making it, are these kids popping out more kids!!

The School Board dropped the ball on this. Should teens understand about birth control and the consequences of having sex without taking a class in high school? Probably, but that is not always the case and the more information they have the better. How many more cases of STD's and pregnancies does the school board need to see before they realize this? As far as the teens go, it has almost become a fashion statement to have a baby. Check out a basketball game and many people in the stands are not even paying attention to the game! They are parading around showing off their babies. Hopefully the few school board members who have opposed sex ed all along will be removed in the April election!

Yes it is hard being a parent these days because if your child acts out in the store and people around you think are to stern or you slap their leg you are on the 9 o'clock news but then on the other hand if you let them act out in the store and you do nothing people critisize you for that as well. there is nothing easy about being a parent and these teenage girls need to realize this. heck grown woman have a hard time these days having the fathers stick around the likely hood of these teenage fathers sticking around is probably zero. i am also glad i got my dose of freedom before i chose to have my children. it makes it easier. i think these young moms are probably ending up regreting the child that is theirs and the child will in turn feel that. plus some of these mom's can even make it through school what happens when their child has to go to school and they can't even help them with their school work. that is a big issue and that is why history keeps repeating itself

Why does it seem that teen pregnancies are so common nowadays? For anyone in their 50's or 60's...how many girls were running around school proud and pregnant in your day? I'm only in my early 40's and we had like 3 girls get pregnant in high school and 2 gave the their babies up for adoption and the other one did get married as soon as she was 18. It seems like if a girl got pregnant at 15, 16 or 17 in the "old days" their parents sent them away for a while and then they came back to school without a baby? My cousin got pregnant when she was like 16 (in the 70's) and I remember hearing stories of how her parents made the choice and DID NOT let her keep him/her. And as hard as it was on her I'm sure she is thankful that she was able to finish high school, live a little, get married and THEN have her 3 children with her husband. I know a woman MY AGE who's daughter was a senior in high school and SOOOOOO HAPPY that she was going to be a grandma! Maybe she should have just had one of her own and let her daughter have her youth for a few more years??? Maybe I'm just bitter towards teeny boppers popping out babies left and right since I suffered infertility and struggled to have a baby and I know MANY MANY married, successful couples that can not conceive a child of their own and adoption is so risky since the birth mother can change her mind at the last minute. It makes me sick to see so many children being raised by children themselves.

I agree, it starts at home. Respect for yourselves, girls. Some parents are too busy providing while other just don't care. Whatever happened to the reflection of whatever you kids do, reflects on you. Parents, for God's sake need to take some responsiblity. The courts, however, need to give the control back to the parents. I could have been arrested for the time I gave my 14 yr old a black eye. she told me to F off and I hit her with a ring on. Whoops, didn't mean to give her a black eye, but TOTALLY meant to hit her. Bad call, CPS, takes her away because I was the bad person and what does she learn. Hell, no body can touch me. So eventually she's telling her teacher's and CPS people F'you. and then I get fined for her wrong doings? HELLO? The one who enabled her should pay the fin. This didn't happen. Because I wasn't arrested and she at that point learned to respect authority and will be graduating with a dental degree.

The thing I see with young girls having babies (even at 18 or 21) is that the grandparents are always taking care of the kids so the young parents can go out and party. They still aren't learning responsibility. I am SOOOO glad I was able to get through college, get a good job, take vacations, go out "partying" and live my life to the fullest BEFORE I had to be responsible for another human being. The other thing these girls need to realize is that these cute and cuddly babies DO GROW UP and then you are dealing with school issues and lots more!

i totally agree with you. children seem to be so much faster these days, they dont want to be kids they want to be mini adults with noone telling them what to ever. i will tell you what as an adult now i think back on how much easier life was as a child and teenager, no bills to pay, no other mouths to feed, all i had to do was go to school and hang out and be a kid. These teenager who are having babies are passing that opportunity up they are going to miss the freedom of being a child and being able to just walk around with no worries. So sad that this is almost just a normal thing these days and so sad that more parents are not taking an active roll in their childrens lives to make sure they are busy enough that they dont have time to think about what it would be like to sleep with the boy/girl next door.

I truly think education should begin in the home but since most of these teen's families are so dysfunctional anyways something should be taught in school. I don't think many teens are going to think about the consequences of having a baby anyways...most times I think it's low self-esteem on the girl's part to have a baby. She feels that if she has a baby she will have someone to love and love her. That and most of the time it's a way to try and trap a boyfriend (which usually ends up chasing him away). I wouldn't know from personal experience; I was in my 30's when I had my daughter. I can also see where some young girls don't see any other future for themselves except getting pregnant and living off the state. I have already begun telling my daughter that she WILL finish high school and go to college, get a good job, learn to take care of herself (just like her single parent Mommy) and one day when she gets married then she can make me a grandma. I think of my own parents and the values they passed on to me and my siblings and how they have raised their own daughters (I have 6 nieces ages 25 to 17 and all have/are going to finish high school and are working on a degree of some sort and have NOT gotten pregnant). I think it has to do with the values we are raised that makes the most impact on young girls.

i wish these teens would think twice before taking on this responsibility. i did not have my first child until i was 26 and even then i think i could of waited a few more years. babies take a lot of patience and nurturing and i personally don't think a teenager is ready for these things. i fully believe in children being active in sports and other activites it gives them less time to be laying around with each other

Sometimes people get caught up in the moment... that is understandable. BUT... if you are "responsible" enough to have sex, you better be responsible enough to use birth control. Pregnancy is going up because self morals are going down. Seriously, think about what you would do with a baby in highschool. How would you provide a life for that child? A high schooler doesnt. BE RESPONSIBLE OR DONT HAVE SEX!

Sarah You know, kind of like what happens nine months after a huge snowstorm.

now that was funny

Sarah your right ,and i guess the boys /girls can get condoms and other forms of birth control by burger king . unless they cut the funding for that. told ya i have FIM disease !

Klick: I don't think teen-agers get pregnant for a freebie. Have they quit handing out condoms in addition to no longer teaching the facts and risks about sexual activity? I think I also read somewhere that at least one non-profit agency that helps educate teen-agers and provides access to birth control is at risk of shutting down. I have been wondering if the birth rate will increase among all age groups as money available to spend on leisure activities drops in this economy and people are spending more time at home. You know, kind of like what happens nine months after a huge snowstorm.

I agree with the free stuff. Getting all kinds of things free. This issue is that these teens don't realize it's not worth it until it is too late. They should send teens to a responsible household with cameras all over the place and of course an immediate oversee-er to watch their every move. In charge of a baby. Two hour feedings, the cryings for no reason. The demand that they don't understand. One weekend would make them realize it is not worth the money. This is a so "out of the box" comment, I realize.

BELOIT — The number of teen pregnancies for students in the Beloit School District spiked at 52 last year, which has administrators concerned
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This is very surprising to me ,could it be free money /food stamps /free health care /free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-free-

Kids are going to have sex whether the program is implemented or not, but if it were offered, maybe it would raise more awareness. That is a large increase.

Board members couldn`t decide what to teach and are paying the price for it, or should I say the students are. They were let down by the board.