Teenage pregnancy is a societal issue that needs immediate attention. Seventy-two percent of teenagers get pregnant outside of marriage. However, the issue is nothing new. Neither is it surprising. Where 56% of young females and 73% of young males are sexually active, teenage pregnancy is almost already expected. (Christensen and Rosen, 1996) Yet the point in discussing teenage pregnancy is not entirely the teenage mother and father. There is the child that results from the pregnancy, and the family that forms—or does not form. In the end, it becomes both a social responsibility and a social problem.
When teenage women get pregnant, there are certain considerations that can make the situation alarming. First, the younger the woman is, the more risks there are in the pregnancy. Young mothers and their babies are more prone to danger. Physically, the woman may be unprepared to carry and bear a child. The child may be affected with these deficiencies. Psychologically, the woman may not be ready and well-accepting towards the situation. There is a possibility that if the pregnancy is unexpected, the woman may have feelings of abandonment for the child especially on the early stages of pregnancy and childbirth. Socially, there is also a stigma brought about by teenage pregnancy. The society does not yet fully accept pregnancies out of marriage especially for young men and women. Unfortunately, the social stigma affects young women more than young men.
Many solutions have been posed to lessen if not totally eliminate the incidences of teenage pregnancy. In solving the problem, it is essential to look at the causes as well. There, the ways to solve the issue is deliberate. First, Christensen and Rosen (1996) writes, economics may play a part. Studies showed that women from lower income families are more inclined to getting pregnant as teenagers as compared to their economically well-off counterparts. Thus, giving attention to the economic welfare of families especially those with teenage children will alleviate the problem of teenage pregnancy.
Secondly, the role of the media to the outlook, attitude, and behavior of teenagers plays a big part in the occurrence of teenage pregnancy. Sex is happening and being shown everyday on television, in print advertisement, in published works, and even on air in the radio. Sex is being sold and being bought. Unfortunately, young men and women have easy access to them. With the advent of internet technology, information on sex is easier to acquire than ever. Interestingly, as much as the media offers sexually-explicit content, they also offer messages of safe sex, abstinence and the likes. Christensen and Rosen (1996) assert that this gives teenagers mixed messages that often confuse rather than educate. Thus, proper monitoring of sexual content in the media should be reviewed. Censorship should be realistic and standard. While freedom should be exercised and maintained, concern towards the younger viewers should be considered.
Lastly, education is an important key to successful intervention on teenage pregnancy. Responsible parenthood, abstinence and safe sex alternatives, and guidance from the school, the family, and the community should be instituted. It is only through synergy in these channels that the problem of teenage pregnancy can be solved. When young men and women are educated, they nurture an open mind and become analytical. With the young encouraged to think, they are also opened to choices. With proper guidance, they can make the right choices and the social issue on teenage pregnancy will be solved.
The Perfect World
Peace, prosperity, equality, and pure joy—these are just among the characteristics of the perfect world. A dream for all, people have differing idealisms on what their perfect world will be like. Often, it will be based on interests. Someone who loves the outdoors will wish for endless fields, mountains, hillsides, and sun; those who prefer the indoors on the other hand will be happy to have organized and clutter-free personal spaces. Those who value their family will choose what is perfect for the family; those who value themselves will prioritize what is beneficial to them. The same can be said of one’s outlook on a perfect world. The determinant of perfect is highly based on the priority of the person.
Yet there are stereotypes to the perfect world ideals. Everybody wants peace. In fact, even those who engage in war looks forward to its end, the day when there will be lasting peace. World peace is not the only peace that people dream of in the perfect world. Individual peace is another important thing that the perfect world features. Where there is peace of mind for the people, there the perfect world for the person is.
Yet peace is not the only one that the prefect world needs. In the ideal world,
People also want to be prosperous. Again, people will have different definitions of the word. Some will say prosperity is having money, some will dream more of houses and cars, some want businesses, but the bottom line is that prosperity is getting the desires of one’s heart. Of course, this is what the perfect world should be like.
Equality and justice also reigns in the perfect world. Here there will be no social classes, the people live equal lives and complement each other’s needs. Thus, despite the equality there will still be blue and white collar workers—the same blue and white collar workers who sit together for lunch. With equality there is freedom. The perfect world allows the people to speak their minds, analyze, create, and innovate. There is lenience and respect to the people.
With peace, prosperity, and equality, the people of the perfect world will have happiness. There will be satisfaction and contentment, and so people will lead better lives. They will be inspired to be more productive and help maintain their perfect world, or everything will be gone. When the world is perfect, everyone is concerned with everyone; everyone is careful not to break the equilibrium of the perfect place that they are already in.
On top of it all, the perfect world cannot be complete without its people. In the ideal world, the people are disciplined, helpful, honest, dependable, and virtuous. There are no criminals, no cheaters, no liars, and no outlaws. Adults will nurture the young and raise them up us good citizens—perfect citizens who match and belong to the perfect world. Children, in return, will find pride in the perfect adults that surround them. They will hold them with respect and be obedient to them.
In the perfect world there will be no need for money. Either the people have too much of it, or the people need not pay anything. Too ideal, but that is the perfect world. The standards are quite high, but these standards are the determinants of the perfect dwelling place. The standards are hardly attainable—just like how elusive a perfect world can be.
