So, I have three hours to teach after lunch. fifth hour was empty, movie time for the four that weren't on the field trip. Seventh hour is the same as third hour, so they had a movie day also, I don't like the classes to be off. It makes for more work for me. Sixth hour is an orphan, the only unit of IPC I teach. It's an intermediate science class for kids whose grades weren't good enough for advanced biology, and who weren't ready for chemistry. Its a small group, and it is full of gabby, silly sophomore girls.
There are the teen girls who take pride in how bubble-brained they can be, and will do anything they can to avoid appearing to get something. I work harder in that small class to get kids to hush and pay attention than I do in my freshmen biology classes. Anyway, one of these silly girls did some critical math today.
They figured out that I was only 17 when I had my first son, that I hadn't married his father until years later. And then a not small amount of chaos ensued.
Did I regret?
Did I go to high school?
Its apparently amazing that I am not a meth head and that I have a job and a life that I live and that I am not miserable pathetic and beaten down.
Thing is, it isn't THAT amazing. Its my life. Its the choices I've made, both good and bad, that have lead here. There are other young mothers who's choices were much smarter than mine have been, and who are probably in better paying careers and a better situation than I am at this point.
But society tells people that teen mothers cannot be successful. That teen mothers cannot graduate normal high schools or attend college. That the best teen mothers can hope for is to be a factory worker or a low level nurse's aid, maybe a school para.
The message is that teen mothers are lost causes, don't bother, they won't succeed and don't even want to.
But that isn't true. There are teen moms who are hard working, caring, and driven to build happy successful lives, despite what society tells them.
So, on the one hand, the kids in that class were a bit amazed, and no I did not spell much of anything out for them. On the other hand, I have a feeling this is going to get around, and I'm not sure I want to be know or notorious for being the teacher who was a teen-aged mother. I'm not sure that I want to know what these super-rich, super-conservative parents are going to think. And I know that there will be stories that will circulate. Stories that will be untrue, but impossible to quiet.
2 comments:
How about looking on being a teen mom as a positive thing....for a change. You are making it...you can inspire a lot of teenagers to not get pregnant to get educated, being a looser is no fun when you get older. Also if you do get pregnant it's not the end of the world and to follow your example. You have a lot of teaching to do and it's not science or the three R's. You should give lectures and charge for them. I know a woman who gives lectures on.....old quilts and gets $200.00 + hotel and travel expenses.
Listen to Grandma Linda...."turn it into a positive".
LOL, for one thing, I wouldn't know how to get into speaking for cash, and for another, I'd feel bad about charging money to tell teens about myself.
I know I've accomplished a lot, but I honestly don't feel like I have any profound wisdom to offer. I was a smart kid, I knew the risks. I did it anyway.
I choose to raise my son, but I am not strictly pro-life.
I guess its a good thing, and I didn't hear a word about it today, so maybe it won't blow up the way I was afraid it would.
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