I was discussing with a post graduate school classmate recently what seemed to be a “trending” practice in public schools — teenage pregnancy. The school where she teaches at has a case of a junior high school getting pregnant at a young age, and to my surprise, this was not the first time the student got pregnant. In fact, the student had miscarriage before.
Personally, I heard of stories about young students having casual intercourse. And it is not impossible that most of the girls who have experienced this at a young age also got pregnant. There were cases of school boys who keep condoms in their wallets. I am not sure if it is a good thing or not.
At this generation where curious kids have smartphones and tablets which can access pornographic media anytime, it is not a wonder why some law-makers push on the sex education act. But sex education would solve the problem?
To address the issue on teenage pregnancy, I believe that it is just right for us to see what went wrong and from there, we will try to give a solution that would (more likely) work. Fault-finding is a no-no, but it is helpful to see where the problem started.
You see, the teenagers now are the sons and daughters of the people who, during their time, had played outdoors. They were the kids who experienced life even before the gadgets existed, and grew up at the time when internet was also starting to be a hit. Yes, the teenagers now are the children of the millennials.
Millennials grew up with a hanger, or a slipper beside them when they eat, or when they are told to sleep… almost about anything they do, a mother with a stick ready to hit them was always beside them. Millennials grew up with strict parents. In fact, even in schools, teachers were like gods that whatever they say became a must, or else, you will get the reward you will not like to have. We are talking about discipline, or worse, corporal punishment. As these millennials grow up, they attend to colleges away from home, and got their first taste of freedom. During this time, internet was also booming although way way slower than now (yes, if you think your internet speed is slow now, then imagine the internet loading speed during the early 2000s). With the advent of internet and SMS, getting around somebody had been easier. And anything can happen in the absence of the strict parents’ watch.
When millennial parents had their first-borns, were they also thinking to rear their children the way they were raised? Or would they be more lenient and cool? Some would hold on to sticks and hangers for sure, but less strict than their parents. The kids grew up with the parents treating them more of a “barkada” rather than parents. This may not always be the case but parental techniques and styles sure have changed. The end product is, the children growing up to be what they are now (or most of them… yeah, I am not stereotyping.)
Teachers these days are having hard time giving discipline to the young kids. The parents now would nag teachers without even considering the whole situation. Add to that the laws we have are not teacher-friendly at all. I agree with no corporal punishment, but can we have at least be given the power to straighten the bending attitudes of the youngsters? And yes, we need to have the spanking rod!
Most (not all, again, not all) parents are relying on the schools to give their children some manners. Character-building should start at home.
Because of too much exposure to technology with access to porn sites, and having powerless disciplinarians, our students have gone astray. Their attitude can no longer be moulded the way we want them to be. It has become a challenge. Parents should be the first people to give their children the spanking they need.
Look at our students, they tend to rely on social media for everything. Their decisions rely on number of comments and reactions. The way they rant on Facebook reflects they way they handle problems. They easily “fall” for people. What does it tell us?
Their “challenges” are too shallow (talking about wearing bra for boys, or hugging a crush, nonsense!) compared to the real challenges their age should be facing. The way they look at the Research subject seemed like between life and death! Hey, we too, do have that when we were your age. At that time, computers were a luxury and not everyone can afford but we never reacted the way you do now… and we did our research without Google, beat that!
The moment peers made them feel they are important, they are thinking it is already love and all. And it did not matter who or what they partner with. Girls on girls, and boys on boys. I am not against the rainbow community. But these kids we have now have shallow notion and understanding of themselves. They do not even know what they are worth. Getting pregnant at 14? 15?
And why are they like this?
Who raised them?
Teacher Jared 