During each episode of 16 and Pregnant, there seems to be a recurring theme — young moms unable to finish school. Take Valerie, the teen who wanted to return to high school after having her daughter Nevaeh. Unfortunately, the high cost of day care left her with only one option: more home schooling.
After seeing how disappointed Valerie was on last week's episode, I started thinking about the young mothers at my high school. A number of my classmates had children early, but most were able to graduate because our school had a day care center. At the time, I was oblivious to the influence a facility like that might have had on other sexually active students. Does having such a facility suggest it's OK to have children early or is it necessary for young mothers to graduate?
"Once a teen is pregnant it's imperative to help them succeed, and the first step is for them to stay in school," says Bill Albert, chief program officer for The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. At first glance, offering on-campus day care is the easy solution, "but you don't want to inadvertently send the signal that it's no big deal either," Albert adds. If a high school provides teen mothers with a place to drop off their kids, does that encourage them to continue having babies? Will it create a hypersexual dynamic among the student population, or is day care a necessary program that all schools should implement?
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