Balash Essay Questions

Balash Essay Questions
  1. The author Martha Balash identifies the problem of teen pregnancy within the first paragraph of her essay.   She says that pregnancy will affect one million teenage girls age 14-19. This affects everyone, not just the teen mom. Teenagers who become pregnant are more at risk of dropping out of high school and living at or below poverty on public assistance and welfare. This puts an additional burden on our economy, which is already struggling.
  2. In order to solve the Teen pregnancy epidemic, Balash proposes instituting programs that will further educate teenagers on pregnancy and prevention. These programs would involve schools as well as parents tackling two fronts instead of just one.   The solution is stated in paragraph 7 of her essay.
  3. Balash views lack of education on pregnancy, birth control, and STDs as the main source of the teenage pregnancy problem. Traditional sex education usually does not give parents a role in engaging in these conversations with their kids. She believes that involving the parents more in their teenagers sexual education, will open up opportunities to promote communication and understanding between parents and children.   (Paragraph 6 and 8)
  4. Balash gives an example of how parents could be more involved in their kid’s sexual education. By giving the kids a homework assignment that needs to be completed with the parents,   thus giving them (parents and children) an opportunity to communicate and hear each other’s views on sex.   This is only one example of how schools can involve parents in this educational process. (paragraph 4)
  5. Balash understands that there will be objections to her parent/teacher/ child education program. Many people object to any interference from the schools regarding sex education. Many feel that the responsibility to educate the child on sex relies heavily on the parents.   While that would be ideal, statistics show that some parents have been unsuccessful. “...