liz

hello!

Hello everyone,
So I'm not exactly sure how to create a sub-page for myself...this is something we all might need to work on together in class and figure this out! I'm not going to lie, for some reason this "blogging thing" tends to be a little confusing to me...so bare with me!

Elizabeth White
Professor Richard Samuelson
English 102
30 January 2011
Extended Bibliography: Unit 1
Teen Mothers
1. SmithBattle, L. "Helping teen mothers succeed." Journal of School Nursing (Allen Press Publishing Services Inc.) 22.3 (2006): 130-135. CINAHL with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.
2. Lee Smithbattle looks at all end of the spectrum when it comes to teen parenting. Her main point throughout this article is to have the readers come to a realization that many teen mothers’ aren’t successful coming into their adulthood, not because they’re parents but because their communities, schools, and authority figures are not providing these teens with the necessary recourses for success. Smithbattle states, “Although pregnant and parenting teens are entitled to public education, school districts have great latitude in how they serve them. The lack of state policy, funding, reliable data, and knowledge regarding the numbers and needs of the students deter many school districts from developing educational policies and programs for the student population”. (smithbattle, pg. 132). It’s everyone’s job in the community to help its members reach their particular goals; many of which, for many teen moms, is just to get an education. By putting in more effort to not look the other way when a “problem” such as teen pregnancy occurs we can help a young woman, her baby and the community raise more productive, successful adults.
3. Smithbattle makes many attempts to steer the audience in a particular way of thinking, so yes, it is a little bit bias because she strongly agrees with her perceptions as opposed to just concrete facts. However, many of her observations are based upon data and observation, and I happen to agree with her arguments; so I decided this would be a good source to use. The authors’ main argument is that people in general are doing only what is “needed” to be done with a situation like teen pregnancy, but not many people are going out of their way to help. It is important to set aside personal beliefs or self pity and give these teens a helping hand. Bottom line, we could do more. Anyone from a school nurse to the mayor of a city; an interest of overall health and happiness for these teens makes little gestures go a long way. The way Smithbattle pulls me in with her writing and makes me want to make a difference is because her passion is apparent throughout the entire article. I do get a sense of legitimacy through her words because of the sureness she has in her writing and the obvious research and time she has put into this piece herself to make it worth reading.
4. Like I previously stated, I was so drawn to what this source had to say because I too felt the same way. I feel like a community needs to pull together to help these struggling teens to find self-esteem, self-worth and most of all a means to continuing their education for the betterment of their own future and their baby’s future. This isn’t the dark ages anymore! Anyone can sit there and have self pity on the girl that got knocked up, but it doesn’t help her. The people of a community need to put forth helpful recourses. I know from experience how lax sex education is within schools districts, which in my opinion, is where a main problem lies. Many teen mothers did not have someone to talk to, questions to ask, access to birth control, or a bigger goal and aspiration for their own lives.
5. I found this source to be helpful because it helped me realize how I feel about teen pregnancy and what I want to do to fix what I think is broken in the system. I would like to look more into what steps are being taken into our own city to ensure that these teens have alternatives. This is why I was more than happy to be a part of the “Baby Steps” team, and found teen mothers to be closely related to the program. After all, many teen moms end up being low income, uneducated parents with sometimes a plethora of other problems as a parent. I think “Baby Steps” is a literal step in the right direction to making more successful resolutions to ill- equipped parents.