“I Think I Got the Right”

A Look at the Issues of Literacy
with Three Parenting Teens

Since 1987, Action for Boston Community Development Learning Centre, an adult learning centre in downtown Boston, has been running a program especially aimed at pregnant and parenting teens. Its goal is to educate, to counsel, and ultimately to bring teenage parents into the workforce. Operating under the mandate of a grant provided by the Department of Public Welfare, the program also acts as a liaison between the teens and such governmental agencies as Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), General Relief (GR), a family daycare centre, the Boston City Hospital, and Saludi's Banking Training Program.

But a year old, the program has already undergone modification. Originally planned for 25 students, it now serves a maximum of 15; originally of six months duration, its exit is now open-ended. Students must be between 16 and 21, and have at least grade 3 reading and math skills. They spend half a day at ABCD Learning Centre working toward a G.E.D. and half a day in health and parenting workshops conducted by a child development specialist. Later they enter an employment or vocational training program. According to the terms of the grant, the counselling aspect of the program is intended to develop "self-worth, physical and mental health and social competence." The education provided "must be accessible, relevant and related to the participant's life experiences, positively oriented, based in recognizing students' skills and competencies, flexible and demanding." The workshops are provided to develop parenting skills.

All this looks great on paper: one year, maybe two, and the students can attain a G.E.D., a certificate of training and practical knowledge of health and childcare. But from the outside looking in, the place of education in the priorities of pregnant and parenting teens is hard to discern. It struggles for attention among such other pressing concerns as the housing search (with Boston apartments starting at $700-$800 a month), work, daycare, courts, welfare, boyfriends, counselors, parents, families, friends, violence, hope, determination and constant change. Regular attendance at school seems impossible.

I sat down one day and spoke with three women from this program. All three desperately desire education, knowing it is their ticket out of dependency and into a good job; all three also admit that their immediate needs, of necessity, take precedence. When I asked them about their school experience, they responded with stories of hanging out, doing nothing, going nowhere except home at the end of the day for something to eat. However, all say that they see the adult learning centre as something "different ".

All three women have grown up very quickly, forced to become women when barely out of the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade. Each has a unique story, but none is atypical. Surviving violence and even attempted suicide, they are, if nothing else, extremely clear and articulate about the massive confusion which they entered, very much of their own free will. None regret their situation, nor do they blame others. They all like mothering, are glad to have their children while young, believe they are caring for them well.

Lucia is 19 years old. When she got pregnant at 15, in the summer after 8th grade, her parents threw her out of the house. Even now, almost 5 years late, her mother will meet her occasionally, but only outside the house. After a few attempts to live with friends and sisters, she went to stay at her boyfriend's parents' house, but the arrangement soon fell apart. Jealous of her, her boyfriend's brother turned the family against her. If she was watching TV, they would shut it off, as if she was invisible. Her mother-in-law would not permit her to use the washing machines because she contributed to rent but not to electricity. When she smiled, she was accused of lying to herself. When she didn't, she was called rude.