Well, that’s really sad. When I taught high school I always hated that people made over the pregnant high school girls. I didn’t want to be *mean* to them, but I also didn’t want to encourage the behavior. It really is true that other girls see the attention and think how much fun it is to also have a baby. People discount that as a factor, but teens tend to want to do what others are doing, and they have very little foresight. My first year teaching I had a pregnant 9th grader who already had a baby at home.
My wife and I are struggling to find a way to send our son to the local public university (it’s not an expensive one at all). He’s always been a good student, and has kept his nose clean and to the grindstone.
Meanwhile, at a college informational meeting, it was casually mentioned that if a highschool girl has a baby, then she is considered “independent” for purposes of the FAFSA... That means when she fills out the FAFSA, she can list her own income, rather than her parent’s income (like my son will have to do). Result? Teenage moms end up with a free ride to college. No one really believes that a teenage mom is “independent” - it’s just a freebee from Uncle Sam.
I don’t want to punish unwed mothers, but this isn’t a fair or even outcome - it’s a reward for getting knocked up early enough to give birth by Senior year. Yet another unintended consequence of our crazy government in action.