[Were] pregnant teenagers allowed in school when you were a student? I know they were not. I don't believe in that, because it tells other girls that it's okay to get pregnant. I don't know how you feel about that, but I disagree with it. It's not okay for teenage girls to get pregnant, and I feel fortunate that I was able to teach my girls the difference between right and wrong. Unfortunately there are far too many parents who don't realize what's going on in our public school system, and there are many others who simply don't care. As to teenage girls who get pregnant, I believe they should homeschool [sic]. Gayle | Homepage | 01.03.09 - 11:18 am
A few questions: Why should pregnant teenaged girls be banned from public schools but not the little dicks who caused their pregnancies? Why should young women always bear the brunt of ridicule and social ostracism for the crime of two-to-tango but not their co-conspirators in passion? Will parents of pregnant teenaged girls get a school tax rebate after their daughters are banned from public school? After all, those parents will no longer receive value for money.
In other news, I congratulate the Palin family on the birth of their new grandson, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, 7 pounds 4 ounces, born on December 28, 2009. Dragon Lady has decreed: Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, may now return to school.
In other news, I found these stories:
Taleban threaten to blow up girls’ schools if they refuse to close
The Taleban have ordered the closure of all girls’ schools in the war-ravaged Swat district and warned parents and teachers of dire consequences if the ban is flouted.
In an announcement made in mosques and broadcast on radio, the militant group set a deadline of January 15 for its order to be obeyed or it would blow up school buildings and attack schoolgirls. It also told women not to set foot outside their homes without being fully covered.
“Female education is against Islamic teachings and spreads vulgarity in society,” Shah Dauran, leader of a group that has established control over a large part of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province, declared this week.
Disembowelled, then torn apart: The price of daring to teach girls
The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy. The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.
Bless your dear feminist heart for this post, Octo.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note - every liberal's fave A. Coulter in an interview on the Today show this week declared that single mothers were the cause of pretty much everything wrong in America today. Not single fathers, or dead-beat fathers etc. Nope. Just us single moms. I had no idea that my status as such was so powerful that I could torpedo the well-being of my entire country! Who knew!?
Oh the irony of newest Palin born.
As for the Taliban & women - my heart breaks when I think about it.
The real sadness is that "conservative Christians" have completely missed the point of New Testament teachings they claim to want so desparately to preserve.
ReplyDeleteThey want to protect their children but throw all the other kids that don't measure up under the bus.
The attitude here is, I've taught MY daughters well, but these other girls haven't had that kind of teaching - their parents don't care." And therein lies the problem - these are not trollops and jezebels bent on having sex and producing more neglected offspring. Mostly, they are girls starved for affection and acceptance with low self esteem and no guidance or support.
These girls don't need further ostracism, they need these "Christians" to practice what they preach:
Excerpted from Matthew 25
“Then they also will answer Him,[d] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
Excerpted from Mark 9:42
42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."
Excerpted from Mark 10
14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
Excerpted from Mark 2
16 And when the scribes and[b] Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Excerpt from John 8
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
To those who believe in the Bible as the word of God and Jesus as the Christ I find it hard to reconcile His teachings with modern "Christian" attitudes.
His message was simple; "Follow ME." He ate with the dregs of society, healed sinners, loved ALL children -- so, spare me the superior platitudes, actions speak louder than words. Taking care of your own family and your own soul is certainly commendable but -- walking into a den of lions -- that is TRUE faith and commitment.
What girls such as these need is not distain but someone to be their champion and their cheerleader. Someone who makes them feel loved and safe and valued. Someone to hold up that light and show them the way.
The Golden Rule is not something that can be written on a board or taught as a class subject - it is something to be lived and practiced and revered.
Geez! This is long enough to be another post!
Interesting to note the word "okay" which I suppose stands for OK which is a nice way to avoid using words like right or wrong. I guess you could call it a weasel word.
ReplyDeleteDenying an education to someone because no religious ceremony was performed before the pregnancy? Unconstitutional of course, whether it's "okay" or not "okay" but just as the Taliban proves, religion is the root of all evil.
Personally I think stupid people should be disemboweled to prevent showing everyone that's "okay" to be stupid.
How timely. This report just released today: Mississippi Has Highest Teen Birth Rate:
ReplyDeleteMississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report released Wednesday.
Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The teen pregnancy rate in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher.
Significant increases in teen birth rates were noted in 26 states ...
- - - - - - -
Of course, social conservatives will deny any correlation between increased teen pregnancy rates and abstinence-only health education. In their book, teaching teens about birth control is as forbidden as mathematics (only rational numbers are recognized according to Intelligent Design), biology (fossil evidence threatens their precious Creationism), and physics (there can be no calculus without irrational numbers). Say bye, bye to pi and the square root of two.
I’ll repeat here what I said in an earlier comment thread:
For lack of a better term, what I see is a "Culture of Ridicule" among [social] conservatives that scapegoats liberals for every ill and frustration of the modern world, real or imagined.
... a growing list of scapegoats that includes pregnant teenaged girls (but not Beavis and Butthead).