The Birth of Cool

Reflecting on our high school experiences conjures up all sorts of images and feelings. The nervousness we felt deciding where to sit in the cafeteria, the anxiety of trying out for the team and the butterflies in our stomachs before asking a girl to the dance. So much of the high school experience is trying to figure out what’s cool and doing whatever possible to attain that elusive label. Often times, it’s as arbitrary as the brand of jeans you wear or the haircut you sport. Shop at the wrong store and that girl from your biology class is now out of reach. When the previous fad dissipates and the new trend surfaces, it’s time to go shopping.(Hopefully alone because nothing screams cool like trying on clothes under the watchful eye of your mom, right?) While the focus on outside appearances is concerning, it’s certainly not as troubling as the current trend percolating in some high schools around the country.

As you may have heard, 90 students at Frayser High School in Memphis are either currently or recently pregnant. It’s unclear, at least to this point, whether there was some sort of pregnancy pact among students. The Frayser High School story is certainly not the first of its kind. In 2009, 115 students at Robeson High School in Chicago were either expecting or already had children.

So how did we arrive at a place where teen pregnancy became as trendy as Abercrombie jeans and North Face jackets? I’ll do my best to refrain from sounding like an old fogy that longs for the days of sock hops and drive in movies(Although, admittedly those do sound fun). That being said, I do think shows like Teen Mom on MTV are, at least, part of the problem. Can a teenager really comprehend the drastic effect that a pregnancy has on a family after watching a one hour show? Clearly, not everything can be blamed on pop culture. Are these girls at Frayser getting pregnant as a means of rebellion? Are their own fathers absent and are they desperate for some sort of attention from any male figure? There are no easy answers, but here’s to hoping that, in the future, the biggest casualty of being cool is being seen at the mall with our moms rather than crib shopping for adolescent parents.