Product Description
Wanda Pillow presents a critical analysis of federal law and policy towards pregnant teens, representations of teen pregnancy in popular culture and educational policy assesses how schools provide educational opportunities for school-aged mothers. Through in-depth analysis of specific policies and programs, both past and present, this book traces our successes and failures in educating pregnant teens. Schooling Pregnant Teens uses feminist, race and poststructural … More >>
Unfit Subjects: Education Policy and the Teen Mother, 1972-2002
Tags: 19722002, critical analysis, education, education policy, educational opportunities, educational policy, Mother, Policy, popular culture, pregnant teens, representations, Subjects, successes and failures, Teen, teen mother, teen pregnancy, Unfit
#1 by Jessica Colbourne on April 18, 2010 - 9:29 am
The book investigates the many facets of teen pregnancy, beginning with a social history of the problem. After introducing the teen mother of the 1930’s as the “girl next door” who was wronged and needs to be supported throughout her pregnancy and motherhood, Pillow introduces the racial and class implications of teen motherhood and how that affects how society views the teen. After discussing who the teen mother is, she dives into the issue of how she should be educated, and explains Title IX in depth. Title IX was legislation that laid out what a teen mother is entitled to for her education. It states the following:
1. Teen mothers may not be expelled from school.
2. Attendance at separate schooling sites must be voluntary.
3. Policies affecting teen mothers’ access to school must be nondiscriminatory and teen mothers’ education should be comparable to that of their peers.
For much of the remainder of the book, Pillow investigates each clause of Title IX and how it is (and isn’t) implemented in schools. She looks at many different programs which grew out of Title IX (including GRADS and LEAP) and how they support the teen mother. To conclude the book, the author points out the many questions surrounding teen pregnancy and education that have yet to be answered. She points out that most policies and programs tailored to teen mothers were not created by educationists, but rather by politicians who have separate agendas. She calls for educationists to rise to the challenge of trying to solve the difficult problem of how the teen mother should continue her schooling after she gives birth, and what expectations will be placed on her.
Wanda Pillow’s analysis of the social and education predicament that is teen pregnancy is very thorough. She identifies many themes in the application of Title IX that help the reader understand how different schools approach the legislation. When analyzing how pregnant teens are treated in school, she points out discourses of pregnancy as a cold and pregnancy as a disability or disease. By categorizing the student in one of these two ways, the student either stays in their current school with little or no additional support, or they are transferred to another location where special services are provided, but where the education is presumably not “comparable”. By identifying these two treatments of teen mothers, Pillow is able to analyze the pros and cons of each, and conclude that the best treatment of the teen mother is somewhere in the middle.
Pillow also identifies discourses that hinder schools from providing the teen mother with what she needs, and what she is legally entitled to. She explains clearly that discourses of contamination motivate schools to send pregnant/mothering teens to other locations because they do not want her to contaminate the other students with her bad morals. Discourses of education as a responsibility is another theme that Pillow identifies as being detrimental to the treatment of pregnant teens in school. In this theme, it is seen as the teen mother’s responsibility to continue her education, not for the benefit of herself or her child, but for the benefit of society. Society benefits from her education because they will not be burdened with taxes to support this mother when she lives on welfare. While this discourse emphasizes that the teen should stay in school, it identifies her as having different education needs from the other students, and is more likely to push her into a school-to-work or GED program.
By identifying themes in the different aspects of Title IX implementation, Pillow offers a unique view of teen pregnancy and how it is handled in schools. While the book is very adept at pointing out the flaws and successes in Title IX and the programs that followed, Pillow does not follow through on how to correct the flaws in the education of pregnant teens. In many ways these are questions that have no definite answers. Many of the problems that she points out with the way pregnant/mothering teen education is handled deal with deep-rooted attitudes and assumptions on the part of educators and administrators. Much of how a pregnant teen is seen by these people depends on the student’s race and social class, and this dictates how the student’s pregnancy affects her schooling. Issues of race and social class prejudice not only affect pregnant teens, but all students in general, and these are problems that may need to be dealt with outside the realm of educational policy for pregnant teens.
However, other questions that are posed in the book are simply never answered by Pillow. She begins the book by introducing the questions of “what the problem of teen pregnancy is, who it is a problem for, and how government should intervene and on whose behalf.” While she discusses these issues throughout the book, she never comes to a concrete conclusion. She ends the book with still more questions:
So what does education opportunity look like for a teen mother? Or rather what is equitable education for pregnant/mothering students? Are programs that are integrated with the school at large more equitable or do pregnant teens need a separate school experience geared to their needs in order to have access to equitable education?
One reason for these questions is that, as Pillow states many times throughout the book, education on pregnant teens is hard to come by. One would like to look at school data on pregnant teens of different races and social classes, different regions, and see how they progressed, whether they graduated, etc, after becoming pregnant. However, while many schools have data on how many of their students were pregnant or mothering, they often do not connect that data with their demographics or graduation rates. This makes it difficult to conduct concrete research on how teen pregnancy was handled in specific schools. In the conclusion of the book, Pillow suggests many avenues where future research should be explored, but she does very little research herself.
Unfit Subjects: Education Policy and the Teen Mother is a very informative book when it comes to the social history of teen pregnancy and legislative policies such as Title IX that are associated with it. The book is very thorough in both concrete information provided and in Pillow’s personal opinions about the benefits and pitfalls of the different policies and programs for pregnant teens. Though her opinions are valuable and backed up by themes that she has observed in different schools and programs, most of her work is not backed up by concrete research. This flaw in the book is indicative of the flaw in the subject as a whole. There are many different policies and procedures surrounding pregnant/mothering teens and how they should be handled in school during and after their pregnancy, but these policies were not written by educators, nor were they backed up by research. Overall the biggest problem illuminated by Pillow is the lack of research on this topic. Thorough research in the future would not only make Pillow and her book better informed, but could be revolutionary for education policy for pregnant teens in the United States.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by CCNY Grad student on April 18, 2010 - 10:31 am
Wanda Pillow’s educational critique on the treatment of pregnant teenagers was tedious but powerful. This book is first and foremost about prejudice and what it means to be a woman in the United States in the 20th century. “Unfit Subjects” takes a look at an enfranchised group of people that are easily put away and ignored by the very system that is supposed to educate and protect them. Pillow differentiated between gender, race, and economic status, emphasizing the inequalities that lie within the prejudice of pregnant teenagers. This is an elaborate illustration, highlighting the beauty of motherhood and the sorrow of these marginalized females.
Teen pregnancy found itself on the rise in the 1970’s. It was not necessarily a rise in the number of teenagers becoming pregnant, but rather a swarm of attention directed towards the issue, which made it seem as though there was a new phenomenon-taking place. There was a hush-hush attitude towards this issue throughout the 1960’s; in the ’70’s research, policy, and society began to focus on teen pregnancy with the help of the phrase “children having children” which is still used today. Since teen pregnancy was not uncommon, once it hit the media stage it was seen as a full fledge epidemic that needed immediate remedy thus drastic measures were taken.
One of the solutions that had been established in the 1880’s came in the form of the F.C homes. This institution made it a point to convert the views society had of teen moms from “wanton prostitutes to victims” (pg. 21). The F.C. association had a philosophy of helping young mothers stay afloat despite the situations they currently found themselves in, which was a great idea, but there were many holes in the way these homes ran their facilities. There was unashamed racism throughout the F.C. homes due in part to the view of black teenagers as opposed to white teenagers. White teens were seen as innocent little girls guilty of nothing but being fooled by the opposite sex. They were considered victims of circumstance who needed help rehabilitating. On the other hand black teens were problematic and their pregnancy a product of disorganization in the home and community which was instilled by their culture. As a result, blacks were turned away from F. C. homes which left them with very few, if any, alternatives. Homes for black mothers were nearly non-existent. In a nutshell, the views of the F. C. homes were that whites were worth helping while blacks were not.
A teen mother is a female who is single, jobless, and often in her teenage years, who has a baby. It has been established that teen motherhood is a problem but what Pillow tentatively asks is who is teen pregnancy a problem for? This is a societal problem. Society does not want to have to deal with “children having children”. More specifically, schools do not want to deal with students becoming pregnant. In a society that has declared itself the top of the evolutionary hierarchy, having children become pregnant shows a state of primitiveness, where sexual lust is uncontrollable.
In schools teen mothers were seen as worthy of an education but were not welcomed to learn with the rest of the population. They were often offered classes at different times and/or removal from the school and placement into a different institution designed specifically for young mothers. There were no support services, such as child care, for these young mothers which often were expelled or forced to drop out because of absences (due to having to take their child/children to the doctor).
There were two views on teen mothers. Teen pregnancy was seen as either a cold or a disease. As a cold, pregnant teens were seen as being sick until child was born. The student is treated like everyone else except that once in a while she has to be absent due to medical necessities. In this case the pregnancy is ignored. The second view is seeing teen pregnancy as a disease where a student is seen as having special needs even after the child is born. This is the view that supports the removal of the student. This opinion of the teen mother is one that insists on putting away the teenager so that other teen girls do not get contaminated by her “disease”.
In 1972, Title IX was passed to protect young women. This stated that any facility benefiting from federal funding would not be allowed to discriminate against any student. Teen mothers could no longer be expelled, attendance at separate schools had to be voluntary, and in school policies had to be non-discriminatory.
I consider this book to be informative and often interesting but I would not recommend it as light reading. “Unfit Subjects” is a great supplement to a research paper dealing with teenage pregnancy. One of the things I got out of this reading was the history of teenage pregnancy and how very little society has grown. Teenage mothers are a common site which very few people give second thoughts to yet these young ladies are still seen as outcasts, girls who have traded in their childhood for a lifetime of babysitting.
When I look at my 8th grade students I cannot imagine them with child yet I know that a handful of them will have their first child while in high school. I know that statistically 40 out of my 60 beautiful, Latino and black students will not finish high school and many of the girls will be mothers before even I bare my first child. I find it unfair and embarrassing, often pitying those who are giving up the best years of their lives for a lifelong sentence of servitude. Realizing the evilness of this never-ending cycle of childbearing while still so young is agonizing. Knowing that these teenage mothers do not have the mental capacity to realize the mistake they are making makes this cycle even more painful.
During this school year 2 of my female students, both 14, have become pregnant. Both of them have had abortions, a harsh yet smart decision in their situation. They have moved on and seem to be recuperating smoothly but it is impossible to ignore their emotional development and how they may one day regret their decision to eliminate the problem they had created.
Wanda Pillow placed a new light on the issue of teenage pregnancy and made me see it for what it is, a reality that must not be seen neither as a crime nor as a punishment. It is a problem because these young women do not have the financial, emotional, and (sometimes) physical support they need to provide healthy homes for their babies, but these mothers are still young women who deserve to be treated as such.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by W Boudville on April 18, 2010 - 10:45 am
Here’s a subject that has been topical and controversial in the US for decades. How should the public education system accomodate pregnant teenagers? Many politicians lament the high rates of teen pregnancy. But what to do once she is pregnant and does not want an abortion?
Pillow offers a thoughtful discourse on various aspects. Non American readers will note the constant reference to US Federal policies, like Title 9, which requires schools not to discriminate against these women. Pillow discusses the interplay of racial and ethnic factors. Especially the persistently high rate of unwed black pregnancy. What sort of counselling should be offered is also reviewed. Like, what to say regarding possible career paths, or the related topic about the availability of affordable childcare.
She provides no simple answers. Possibly there are none.
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Robin Orlowski on April 18, 2010 - 11:36 am
Wanda S. Pillow uses qualitative and quantitative data to examine America’s ongoing teen pregnancy problem. The only western nation without comprehensive sex education, America also boasts a dubious distinction of having the western world’s highest teen pregnancy rate.
Teen pregnancy became noticed as an individual demographic-specific problem in the 1960’s, but different races were and have always been treated differently in America when they find themselves pregnant.
White women were historically regarded as having made a ‘bad choice’, but ultimately were redeemable (through the intervention of moralistic social service personnel) only if they sequestered themselves in maternity homes. Here they could become ‘repaired’ through a strict regimen of religion and vocational training, while they were supposed to ultimately find a man—their having a child allegedly limited marriage ability. Later on, some homes would even offer adoption services, allowing the woman to further `erase’ the teenage pregnancy and have a second chance at respectability.
Contrasting, black teenage pregnancies became cited as `evidence’ of that community’s problems and consequently were left to their own devices. Black teenagers traditionally were supposed to turn to their own for assistance.
Although teens are no longer kicked out of school for becoming pregnant (Title IX), they are instead being handed many punitive options by our government. The same entities who do not give them access to information about preventing a pregnancy then appear to constantly remind them that their options are limited once they are pregnant. This compounds the sense of isolation which those young women have.
What daycare and social service programs exist for teens is not enough to meet the demand. The American government historically and currently does not want to make the social policy investitures required for having actual social change. Connaught `Connie’ Marshner was a Reagan administration political appointment to head the office of family life, but she actually knew very little about the program which she was supposed to direct. Marshner was soon replaced by somebody with more related experience, but that 1980’s incident is emblematic of how little priority the government gave to seriously addressing and then ending teen pregnancy. If bureaucracies ultimately function through expertise only, the first appointment never was actually going to address teen pregnancy. Rather it was going to reinforce ideological stereotypes about `promiscuous youth’ and ‘values’; ‘good people’ allegedly did not have teen pregnancies.
The ‘promiscuous low-income youth’ myth reared its head in the 1990’s with welfare reform. Welfare reform itself was built on the assumption that young women of color were becoming rich from having litters of babies, selectively ignoring the actual payment levels pre-reform, which were not enough to live above poverty anywhere inside this country. The sexuality of black women ultimately provided sufficient ammunition for politicians to attack the welfare state, even Democratic president Bill Clinton had endorsed and signed the measure.
She also includes information on Hispanic young women. By virtue of being people of color they are also being victimized through race-sexuality dichotomies and additionally face language barriers while trying to obtain social services. The thrust of the book’s racial-ethnic focus is centered on the black-white politics of sex, teen pregnancy, and poverty. Since 19th century miscegenation laws were first enacted, black sexuality has terrified public policymakers as alternately being both inferior and effectively destructive to the country.
Identifying many connotations within the term `epidemic’ Pillow concedes that American teen pregnancy rates will not substantially decline until we begin having honest talks. Our country needs to talk how current policies are/have been fundamentally race-gender-socioeconomic constructed and then we can adopt a more inclusive approach to sexuality education.
Rating: 5 / 5