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How Teenage Pregnancy Affects the High School Dropout Rate. Essay Example

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How Teenage Pregnancy Affects the High School Dropout Rate. Essay Example
“Nearly one-third of teen girls who have dropped out of school cite early pregnancy or parenthood as a key reason (National Campaign 2010).” In African American and Latino girls the rate of pregnancy and dropout is the highest. According to the Civic Enterprise for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that “twenty-six percent of students said they dropped out when they found out they became a parent. (Bridgeland, 2006).” In my experience I find this to be true for example, at the age of fifteen my niece had her first child, when she turn seventeen she had her second one by the time it was time for her to graduate from high school she had already dropped out. The day of my high school there were three people who were visually pregnant and there was at least two that were pregnant but no one knew about. Although, they did graduate from high school none of them went to college to get a degree.
When you turn on the TV now all you see are show that seem to make the idea of having a baby at an early age look easy. Although, there are shows that try to show the reality of teenage pregnancy. I think they miss the ball a little instead of, showing how your life can be affected by becoming pregnant at an early age; the show starts to seem as if it is glorifying teenage pregnancy. In the Lifetime Original Movie based on a true store called “The Pack,” it showed how a group of teenage girls in one school supposedly agreed to all become pregnant because one of their friends became pregnant.” Although, the girls and the school all stated that it was not a pack but, a coincidence. In the movie it showed how these groups of girls only saw one side of become a teen mom.
If we want to increase the graduation rate in this country we should include more research on how teen pregnancy and the high school dropout rate are connected. When talking about teen pregnancy we should also include information on high school dropout rates. We should include information about both

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