Cultural Observation

Cultural Observation Assignment

Pregnancy is a beautiful thing and somehow it has become such an ugly term in Lawrence, usually because the girls that are pregnant tend to be teens. Not only are they teens there Hispanic pregnant teens. Most of the time it is unplanned for but because Hispanics have an engraved values into there children abortion is not an answer. Lawrence tends to have a high teen pregnancy rate compared to surrounding cities. You may ask yourself why is it? From this observation I want to learn why is there a high pregnancy rate amongst Hispanics, specifically Lawrence?
In the Hispanic culture girls tend to become pregnant at an early age. Usually its because the girls are usually irresponsible and the lack of communication with their parents. In Hispanic cultures parents feel very uncomfortable discussing sexual matters with their children, so they don’t discuss it at all. Hispanics tend to be close-minded when it comes to sexual relationships out of wedlock. The teen girls then come into a relationship with a guy and fail to remember that they can get pregnant. The girls fall “in love” often forgetting birth control and condoms, plus it not available to them.

Something I found very interesting is that my sister fell victim to it and she shared some very ineresting information with me. She told me that when she got pregnant she was in complete shock. She told me that she didn’t think it was possible for her to get pregnant; it was a crazy wake up call for her. I know that my sister was terrified to tell my parents what she had in her stomach; she preferred to move out at 16 and tell them afterwards. I talked to a few other pregnant girls I knew and I quickly found out they all shared a similar story. The same thing repeatedly happened to each girl, they all were careless and uneducated when it came to sex.
Hispanics especially in Lawrence come to America not for themselves but for there children. They expect their children to receive an education and make something out of themselves. But most of time they loose connections with their children and fail to guide them through life situations like teen pregnancy. They fail to accept human nature because of passed on beliefs that been handed down from generation to generation. Especially in Lawrence you see this happening I have seen dozens of girls in my school walk the halls and a few weeks later drop out, cause they cant handle school and a child.
Fortunately Hispanics connection with family is very strong, Hispanics will do anything for family, for it is all they got. At first I noticed that many Hispanic teen girls have there family turn there back on them when they become pregnant, then the family becomes more accepting. The family sees that the girls are family and everyone makes mistakes. So the family then raises the kid. Usually the kid is raised the opposite of how its mother is raised. Hispanics families learn not to repeat the same mistake twice! So how to handle sexual relationships is taught early. I know this firsthand, after my sister got pregnant my parents began to lecture me and ask me questions about becoming pregnant.

This observation was a very informative one. I learned that Hispanics become adapted when it comes to teen pregnancy. They have learned to accept sexual relationships at an early age. They have learned that traditions bring on from the motherland can often hurt their family growth. I have learned that Hispanics only mean good for their children but can often hurt them in the process. I’ve become aware that sex education should be taught from in early age in the schools of Lawrence.
I believe my observations were very true. I see dozens of Hispanic teen girls at Lawrence high pass me everyday. Many of their stories I know and they all fit into the same categories. Lawrence teen pregnancy is high because of lack of education of sex. Naturalistic observations should be used in research because it’s giving you your answers right away. You see the common trends. As a researcher you get to analyze and break down everything. It is much different than looking a stastics and you fail to get in depth with the subject matter you are researching.
I viewed Hispanic teen pregnancy as something normal I guess, something that happens because of girls and how “dumb” they can be. After this cultural observation I have realized that is not the case. The Hispanic culture ignores to educate their teen girls when it comes to sex. It’s all a lack of knowledge and there is barely anyone to point the fingers at.