If 18-year-old Brandy Goldsmith ever thought of having unprotected sex, the three days she spent being a mom completely wiped it out of her mind. She didn’t like changing diapers or waking up in the middle of the night to tend to a crying infant. She hated the disapproving glares from strangers unsympathetic to teenage mothers.
From the afternoon she brought the very lifelike electronic baby home from Morgan Park High School to the morning she returned it, her life as a perky teenager was placed on hold while she became a full-time caregiver.
“It was a reality check,” said Goldsmith, a senior who plans to enroll in college next fall. “No matter how much education you have about childbirth and taking care of babies, there is so much more to it. I couldn’t listen to music. I had to put the baby in the bathroom while I showered. I had to drop everything when it cried. I’m never going to get pregnant, at least (not) until I have a husband to help me.”
Such a declaration is exactly what Goldsmith’s teacher, Jane Ferrill, likes to hear from the 11th and 12th graders in her parenting/adult-living class. The whining, complaining and tired faces of students who didn’t get a good night’s rest means her program to ward off teen pregnancy is working.
“Every student I’ve ever asked if they would wait before getting pregnant says yes after taking this course,” said Ferrill, who teaches more than 100 students using six dolls. “Those who already have babies say they would wait before having another. They learn that taking care of two babies is more work than they thought and more expensive.”
Ferrill began using the battery-operated babies four years ago, the same year President Clinton issued a challenge to parents and leaders across the country to join in a national campaign against teen pregnancy. Teachers such as Ferrill, however, began looking for innovative ways to teach pregnancy prevention in the early 1990s, when the national birth rate for teenagers was steadily rising.
The school programs, combined with aggressive community-based projects and statewide initiatives, apparently have had an impact. A recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics showed a decline in birth rates for teens 15 to 19 in every state and across all races.
The 1996 rate was 54.7 live births per 1,000 women, down 4 percent from 1995 and 12 percent from 1991, when the rate was 62.1, according to the government analysis. Black teen birth rates, formerly the highest among all groups, fell 21 percent from 1991 to 1996, though they remain nearly double the rates of white teens. Hispanic teens now have the highest rates, with 1 in 10 giving birth each year.
“Two things are happening. One is that more teens are abstaining, and the second is that more are using contraceptives,” said Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, which two years ago set a goal to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by one-third by the year 2005. “We have found that the most comprehensive approach holds the most promise. Parents need to be involved in teenage sexual decision-making, as well as other adults, including clergy, coaches and teachers.”
In a growing number of schools in the Chicago area, particularly the suburbs, simulated babies have replaced the raw eggs, or flour bags painted to look like babies, that students were required to carry around as a means of exposing them to the joys and pains of parenthood. But the high cost of the dolls — $250 to $290 apiece — makes them unaffordable in many public schools.
A recent study of students in the New Mexico school district and another published in the June 1997 issue of Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal show the use of simulated babies is more effective in changing attitudes of at-risk adolescents than other popular strategies — such as shadowing a teen parent for a day or counseling with a parent and counselor. However, no longterm research has been conducted.
Such preventive programs generally have more public appeal than school-based programs that address the issue after the fact. The Chicago public school system has been criticized for its year-old “Cradle to Classroom” program, which will spend at least $2.1 million on services for pregnant teens. The emphasis on clinics, additional child-care centers and counseling services for girls who have either already had a child or are expecting, critics said, could give the message that it’s OK to become pregnant.
School officials counter that the program, now in 20 high schools, encourages teens not to have more children and to finish high school so they can get a good job. A second element, they said, provides early intervention for the infants, who likely will become public school students.
“A lot of emphasis is placed on avoiding the second pregnancy. Our position is: `You’ve had this child, you made a mistake. But this is not the end of the world. We go on from here,’ ” said Velma Thomas, director of early childhood education for the school system. “We don’t want infants to be found in the garbage bin. We want teens to say, `Help me.’ We want healthy babies and students.”
There is a need for both types of programs, Thomas said, particularly in a school system where hundreds of students drop out because of pregnancy or stay home from class because they cannot find a sitter.
There is no question, though, that classes that provide simulated babies are the most popular among students, teachers said.
The elective class is so popular at Morgan Park High on Chicago’s South Side that four classes are offered. In addition to sexual responsibility, the classes focus on love, dating, marriage and family finances. But the babies are what draw students in droves.
The 6 1/2-pound dolls, manufactured by a company called Baby Think It Over in Eau Claire, Wis., imitate the sleeping, waking and feeding patterns of infants. They contain an electronic box that cries randomly until a key is inserted. The key must be held in place several minutes to simulate feeding, bathing, diaper-changing and comforting. It cries for 30 seconds when handled roughly or abused. At the end of the parenting assignment, the electronic box records for the teacher how many times the baby was neglected (allowed to cry for more than 1 minute) or abused (thrown or struck). It also tells if the student tampered with the box.
“This method is much more effective than the 5-pound flour bags,” said Penny Byrd, who uses the simulated babies in her human growth and development class at Buffalo Grove High School. “There was really no way to monitor those. They could put the bags in the back seat of the car and I would never know the difference.”
In the three years she has been using the dolls, Byrd said, the six-week program has grown to 150 students, about 10 percent of them boys, in her five classes. Because she has 18 dolls, the students have them for five days, as opposed to three days at Morgan Park High.
“Everybody takes it seriously. Most of the boys in the class are athletes, very confident, cream-of-the-crop boys. I thought they would take it as a big joke,” said Byrd, adding that the program requires the full support of parents. “One is a 6-foot-6 basketball player. I called his mom and said, `I don’t want you to take care of the baby, the boy really has to do it.’ He took a stroller and brought the baby to school in it every day.”
At Morgan Park High, several of the boys said the course has made them more patient and understanding of women.
“I’ve become more responsible,” said 16-year-old Douglas Coley. “If you live with your mom, it shows you how much pressure she is under. I respect females more than I used to. I’m definitely going to wait before fathering a child.”
Leiloni Ferguson, an 18-year-old junior at Morgan Park, said she may have never gotten pregnant with her first child had she taken the class a year sooner. But she is determined not to have another until she’s older.
“I was sleeping with my 4-month-old on one side and the doll on the other, a bottle in one hand and the key in the other. If you’re not prepared to have a baby, don’t do it.”
