PUBLIC FORUM DROP IN BIRTHS TO TEENS UNLIKELY TO PROVE KIDS LESS ACTIVE SEXUALLY.I do not believe there has been a drop in the teen birth rate over the past 60 years because the method of computing the information is faulty. The statistics are skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data because they are limited only to the birth rate. A more accurate picture would be based on the teen birth rate plus the number of abortions performed on teen-age girls. Even that would indicate the conception rate only and therefore still not be a true indication of sexual activity since many teen-agers use contraceptives. Even if a segment of teen-agers were polled and asked about their sexual activity, the results would only apply to those who were polled. Since this is a private act, there is no accurate way of knowing the actual activity rate for anyone, including teen-agers. There is only one way to lower the conception rate among teen girls and that is through abstinence abstinence: see fasting; temperance movements. . - Mary L. Wolfe Northridge In recent reports I have read about this subject, no one mentions abortion as even a factor. To me that is the most obvious reason. I hardly think this statistic has anything to do with choosing between sex and jobs in this booming economy or even being less sexually active today. Living the teen years is like inventing the wheel all over again. Wisdom comes with age and experience. Girls who get pregnant don't usually plan on having a baby and so abort (1) To exit a function or application without saving any data that has been changed. (2) To stop a transmission. (programming) abort - To terminate a program or process abnormally and usually suddenly, with or without diagnostic information. it since that is a widely accepted solution. A smaller number of girls may be motivated by wanting a baby who they think will give them the love they missed in their childhood. While this statistic seems good for mankind, I grieve grieve v. grieved, griev·ing, grieves v.tr. 1. To cause to be sorrowful; distress: It grieves me to see you in such pain. 2. for the barren woman who wants to parent a child through the adoption process. The wait is long and full of many disappointments due to this reduced rate of births. I also grieve for the decline in moral fiber of this great nation. We don't teach our youths that there are consequences associated with behavior. - Shirley Lange Chatsworth Although the birth rate for girls ages 15 to 19 is the lowest in 60 years, almost half of American babies are now born to single women, mostly in their 20s and 30s. More and more mothers choose to cohabit co·hab·it intr.v. co·hab·it·ed, co·hab·it·ing, co·hab·its 1. To live together in a sexual relationship, especially when not legally married. 2. To coexist, as animals of different species. rather than marry. There is more cheating by both partners, more domestic violence, deeper depression and more substance abuse. The nonparent partner has no responsibilities regarding the partner's child. One of every two sexual assaults happens to someone under 18; one in six to a child under 12. There is a lot of incest incest, sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definition of incest also varies. going on. The role of a father is especially important in a boy's life
Boy's Life (1991) is a 580-page novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert R. McCammon. during adolescence, the most fragile time in the boy's moral development. Cheap beer is a leading factor in behavior that results in an estimated 3 million teen-agers' being infected with sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely every year in our country. We need leaders who will debate and confront these problems. - Robert Cooper Robert Cooper is the name of:
Upland Regarding teen pregnancies: I feel many issues enter in here. I feel our young people are becoming more knowledgeable about the human body and the responsibility of bringing a child into the world and to adulthood. To love, to feed, to clothe and to educate is a 24-hours-a-day responsibility. Beginning this as teen-agers puts the young parents' lives on hold: their education, their careers, doing things for themselves, meeting one special person to marry and join in raising a family. I wonder as well if there is more respect being gained for the beauty of the human body - and rightfully so when it is the beginning of life. These issues are personal, but one hopes all are gaining wisdom for the beautiful miles they have to travel in their lives. They are the seeds of today, the flowers of tomorrow - all our children. - Arleen E. Saykally Encino I think fear of disease is the main reason. Another reason is that there is more for teens to do to keep busy: homework, sports, special programs, etc. I think being able to discuss sex education more openly has helped tremendously. From what I've noticed, teens find it OK to be a virgin. Also, more and more parents are getting involved in teens' daily life. Being a teen parent myself back in the '80s, I don't recall hearing discussion then, as I do today, about the dos and don'ts of having sex. - Ruben Marcial Reseda It doesn't look to me like the baby boom generation produced much of a baby boom of its own. I was born in 1965 myself, and it doesn't look to me like my age group has either. Perhaps after the big baby boom following World War II, which ended with the atomic bomb atomic bomb or A-bomb, weapon deriving its explosive force from the release of atomic energy through the fission (splitting) of heavy nuclei (see nuclear energy). The first atomic bomb was produced at the Los Alamos, N.Mex. explosion, we have in fact gone back to reproducing at a much more regular rate. It's only if adults 20 and older totally stop having babies that teen-agers would be rightly put into the position of having to do it themselves. I think you can be ignoring the fact that the past explosion in teens having babies directly paralleled the biggest drop ever in the rate of adults having babies. If it is in fact over among teens, I think we are likely to see a marked increase in adults having babies as well. Now as we move into the 21st century, what we really have to worry about is the new genetic science and doctors and scientists totally taking over having babies. - Alex Morgan Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Gore won't help In 1994, I wrote to Vice President Al Gore Noun 1. Al Gore - Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton (born in 1948) Albert Gore Jr., Gore , who was also chairman of the National Environment Committee. I respectfully asked him to write to the Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club , asking members not to hike off trails onto private and restricted property. He replied by saying it was a local issue and he didn't wish to become involved. I would have rather had a more honest reply, such as: I am sorry. I don't wish to become involved and take a chance of losing some of their total membership votes of 300,000 nationwide. - Talbert Kanigher Burbank Wrong poster child I still can't believe this Abu Jamal guy is the symbol for racial reform in capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. . There must be hundreds - thousands? - of blacks on Death Row who deserve further scrutiny of their sentences due to racial injustices and circumstantial EVIDENCE, CIRCUMSTANTIAL. The proof of facts which usually attend other facts sought to be, proved; that which is not direct evidence. For example, when a witness testifies that a man was stabbed with a knife, and that a piece of the blade was found in the wound, and it is found to fit ``profiled'' evidence. Instead, for some reason I've yet to fathom fath·om n. Abbr. fth. or fm. A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths. tr.v. , all this political and financial effort is being exerted toward a man who was collected from a traffic stop with a bullet in his leg, a gun in his hand and five bullets from his gun in the lone, now-dead police officer a short distance away. It is possible to have the wrong symbol for the right cause. Eliminating racial profiling The consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin by an officer of the law in deciding when and how to intervene in an enforcement capacity. Police officers often profile certain types of individuals who are more likely to perpetrate crimes. in our legal system is crucial. Doing it in the name of someone who has blatantly killed - well, I think there has to be more to it than just skin color. - Brian Ascenzo Burbank That's socialism Regarding union president Alejandro Stephens' ``Union will march for families'' (Opinion, Aug 14): He urges politicians to see to it that county working families get their fair share of the expanding economic pie. In our society we accept the first part of the communist creed, ``from each according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. his ability,'' but reject the second part, ``to each according to his needs.'' We strive to give everyone the opportunity to succeed. After that, the burden rests on individuals to use their innate abilities to make themselves as valuable to an employer or to others as they can. To pay an employee not on merit but according to his needs, as Stephens implies, is socialism, whether the economy is doing well or not. - Ladimer J. Andrews Hidden Hills |
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