The major social problem associated with school-aged pregnancy and parenting is that, historically, young parents have not had equal access to a free and appropriate public education. Until the 1960s, schools were legally permitted to expel student mothers (and sometimes fathers). Exclusion from the typical school institution influenced not only how nontraditional pupils learned, but how they fared in life outside public school. Now, more than 50 years since attempts to disrupt this exclusionary model were first introduced, thousands of student parents still face disparities in public education.
Colonialism & Conservatism: 1850 – 1940s
The intent of education in Colonial America was to perpetuate the moral and civic values of the newly formed republic. Unlike the North, where tax-supported public schooling for girls was reported as early as the 1760s, girls in the South received little to no formal schooling. Girls and women who were educated were expected only to read the Bible, unlike their male peers who were taught science and mathematics in addition to literacy and writing. The prevailing attitude at that time and throughout the early 1900s was that women’s roles were in the home. The purpose of teaching women to read was for them to teach their children Biblical virtues.
However, as Rury (1984) notes, “between 1880 and 1930 millions of women poured into the American labor force” (p. 21). In addition to traditional women’s work – domestic tasks and jobs in manufacturing after the war – they were now clerks, typists, teachers, telephone operators. To prepare them for these new opportunities, educational experiences expanded to include vocational training, primarily homemaking as a vocation (Rury, 1984). Homemaking, first offered to women in the 1880s parallel to industrial training for young men, was seen by many as Progressive social reform. As with other reforms, homemaking was aimed at “eradicating the overcrowding, poverty, disease and potential for social unrest associated with rapid industrialization and urbanization” (Rury, 1984) of the time. Very little emphasis was placed on the vocational or job-related aspect of its name.
Towards the later third of the 20th century, social mores had begun to evolve from upholding reformism towards improving middle class family life (Rury, p.29). Homemaking became but one part in preparing for adult life. By 1930, commercial education – courses in business, accounting, typewriting – enrollment was popular among both male and female students. Girls, though, outnumbered boys 2-to-1 in some bookkeeping and typewriting (Rury, 1984), as they prepared for clerical fields. Research suggests coeducation became more divided at the secondary levels around this time, along lines of curriculum specialization. Rury (1984) writes that “sex-segregated school systems were maintained out of concern for protecting the virtue of female high school students in some cities, particularly in the South, in others such differentiation was defended in vocational terms” (p. 39).
The Baby Scoop Era: 1945 – 1973
Another important development during the 1880s was the Salvation’s Army opening of its first “rescue home” for unwed mothers (Wickersham & Green, 2014). Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, published some thirty-odd years before, reflected attitudes of that time, which were woven into the rescue home’s mission. These “fallen women” (Wickersham & Green, 2014) bearing illegitimate children were wayward, immoral beings who needed salvation. They brought shame onto themselves, as well as their families. Hobart (1962) details the social climate of the early 20th century as such:
In many cases the pregnancy triggers a certain amount of rejection of the girl by her parents (and perhaps her parents-in-law) since it has caused comment among friends and relatives and has perhaps brought a certain amount of notoriety if not even scandal to the families involved” (p. 787).
Schools, which feared that pregnant girls would negatively influence their peers, expelled them to prevent tarnishing the school’s – and society’s – image. Many chose “shotgun” marriage. Others were sent away to live with relatives or to maternity homes (also called maternity hospitals) where babies were placed for adoption. The Salvation Army, along with Florence Crittenton Home and Services and other organizations, set up more than 200 maternity homes well into the 1960s (Mansnerus, 1998).
According to Wilson-Buterbaugh (2017), nearly 4 million girls and young women were forced into adoption during the Baby Scoop Era, a period of time extending from the end of World War II to roughly 1972. The dominant view held by social workers and psychologists was that teenage, unwed mothers were unfit to parent and it was best they be separated by adoption. Hobart (1962) again explains how communities scrutinized illegitimacy:
Whether the child becomes a mature, respected, contributing citizen and an adequate parent in his or her turn, or a malingering, antisocial or neurotic drain on the resources of the community and the society—and an emotionally disturbed parent in due time—depends on how the girl is helped to adjust to the fact of her unwanted pregnancy” (p. 788).
During the 1960s, several urban districts began testing targeted programs for pregnant students. While the advent of the birth control pill led to a decline in birth rates, the legalization of abortion and increase in federal programs for family planning allowed white, middle class women to choose single motherhood (Wilson-Buterbaugh, 2017). Recognizing the need for young mothers to develop their full potential by finishing school and finding gainful employment, authorities adopted more liberal ideas and once again, the public education system adapted.
Male high school students with families had the options of attending night classes or diploma programs, usually at vocational colleges, while working during the day. School administrators, concerned with pregnancy-related dropout rates, explored a number of measures to address the medical, mental and social service needs of expectant high school mothers. Pregnancy schools, like the one featured in the Time Magazine article below, were established mainly in urban communities, where illegitimacy (birth to unmarried parents) occurred in higher numbers (Goodman, 1969).
[googlepdf url=”https://courtneyakinosho.com/student-parents/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LIFE-04-02-1971-StudentParents.pdf” ]
Title IX to the Present: 1972 – Now
Following on the heels of Ordway v. Hargraves in 1971, whereby a Massachusetts court ruled that schools could not expel unwed pregnant students (Solinger, 2005), President Nixon signed into law Title IX of the Education Amendments in 1972. Stating that no institution receiving federal funds could discriminate against program or activity participation on the basis of sex, Title IX empowered pregnant and parenting students by placing the choice of continuing education in their hands (Fershee, 2009). Unlike the previous eras, when girls were mandatorily sent away and returned to school after delivering, they now were able to pursue an education, uninterrupted.
Presently, Title IX remains the definitive legislation that affords nontraditional students a quality, public education in spite of familial obligations. Title IX also provides protections to transgender students, who are becoming increasingly visible in society.