children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

'promiscuous behavior.'''H The result is that thousands
of children needlessly are robbed every year
of their educational future.
-Alabama's Department of Education school leaver
report for 1970-71 states that 14 percent of the
female dropouts cited marriage as the reason; 7
percent cited pregnancy. In 1971-72, 13 percent
cited marriage; 8 percent cited pregnancy. In
Montgomery's school leaver report for 1972-73,
52 percent of the female dropouts cited marriage;
62 percent cited pregnancy.48
-The Superintendent of Schools in South Carolina
stated that "Last year there were 7, 107 dropouts
in our state. Almost 19 percent of those dropouts
-a total of more than 1,30O--cited marriage or
pregnancy as their reason for leaving school."49
The reasons most commonly given by school officials
for excluding pregnant girls are: l) the need
to protect her physical condition (she cannot endure
the "rough and tumble of school," she will "tire
easily," "there are too many stairs to climb," her
condition will result in her being sick in school);
2) the need to protect her mental condition ("she
will be ridiculed, scorned, and embarrassed by her
classmates," "she will be a target for gossip," "she
will be happier in some alternative program"); 3)
the need to protect other students from the "bad influence"
of a pregnant girl and unwillingness to appear
to condone premarital intercourse ("I have to
think of the other children," "we have an obligation
to other children-tbey are here for reading and
writing, not sex education," "we'd get calls from the
other parents and we reflect the feelings of our parents
in the community," "I wonder what my child
would see ... she might wonder if it is the accepted
way of life"); 4) the need to maintain an orderly
environment ("tbe class can't function normally,"
47 National School Board Association, School Board Policies
all Pregllallt alldlor Married Studellts, EPS/NSBA Policy
Information Clearinghouse, 1971, p. 1. As far as we were
able to determine no comprehensive survey of district by
district policies has been conducted.
48 "State-Wide School-Leaver Report, Scholastic Year 1970­
71, and 1971-72" State of Alabama, Department of Educalion,
Pupil Personnel Services Section. "Grand Total
School-Leaver Report 1972-73" Montgomery Public
Schools, City and County, Montgomery, Alabama, June 6,
1973.
49 Remarks of Cyril Busbee, South Carolina State Superintendent
of Education at a Conference on School-Age Parents,
Carolina Inn, Columbia, South Carolina, November
20, 1973.
"when girls are 13 they won't do any work if someone
is showing wedding pictures"); and 5) the
school's lack of facilities for day care and flexible
scheduling.
These exclusionary rationales are more the result
of arcbaic attitudes and fears than reason. Few will
withstand scrutiny. In Ordway v. Hargraves>° the
court accepted expert opinion tbat for the pregnant
plaintiff and her class "the dangers in attending
school are no worse for her than for a non-pregnant
girl." Indeed some experts contend that excluding a
pregnant girl affects her adversely by contributing to
depression, isolation and possible denial of prenatal
medical care and counseling through fear of exposing
her condition. a1 Disruption per se from the presence
of a pregnant gjrl in school is usually more an assumption
than a proven fact. Indeed the American
School Board Journal warns officials to "think twice
about admitting-much less trying to prove-that
one pregnant gjrl can make a shambles out of education
in their school district. "62
One thoughtful policy analyst estimates that onefifth
of pregnant school-age girls can remain successfully
in a regular classroom; that about three-fifths
are "capable of functioning as regular students but
have some special needs that must be met if they are
to remain in regular school during pregnancy and
continue following the birth of a baby"; and the
remaining one-fifth "may indeed be special students
whose circumstances or conditions dictate that they
would be better off in special programs more suitable
to their needs."63
Seldom is the girl given a choice, where it exists,
among programs that may be best suited for her
needs. In a Georgia survey dated January 1, 1974,
18 school boards reported a policy requiring a
pregnant girl to witbdraw from school." In Floyd
County, Kentucky, pregnant girls are eligjble for
homebound instruction for only one bour a week.
60 Ordway v. Hargraves, 323 F.Supp. 1155, 1156 (D.Mass.
1971) .
61 See Perry v. Grellada, 300 F.supp. 748 (N.D.Miss. 1969).
62 Ti,e American School Board Journal, Vol. 160, No.3,
March, 1973, p. 24.
58 Marion Howard, A Discussioll of State Laws and State
alld Local Policies As They Relate to Education of PreglIalll
School-Age Girls, 1972, p. 8.
64 Material Prepared for Council on Maternal Health, State
of Georgia by Susan Kampmeier, 1/1/74.
69