Boarding Schools for Girls

Sending nude pictures to friends via cell phone is uncommon among very young teenagers, according to a new study by the Pew Internet Project.

• Researchers found that only 6 percent of children ages 12 to 13 years old said they had received a "sext" message, and 4 percent said they had sent one.
• Among 17-year-olds, 30 percent have received such messages, and 8 percent have sent them.

In a Dec. 15 article on the Pew website, Amanda Lenhart, author of the study, wrote that "sext messages" are being used as "romantic currency" among teenagers.

"Teenagers have always grappled with issues around sex and relationships, but their coming-of- age mistakes and transgressions have never been so easily transmitted and archived for others to see," Lenhart wrote.

Lenhart and other experts warn that there are legal issues around sending text messages. For example, even young teenagers can face child pornography charges when they distribute nude pictures of themselves.

Labels: middle school, sexting

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About half of all sexually active unmarried young adults are not using contraception even though most think pregnancy should be planned, according to a study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

• Researchers surveyed 1,800 people ages 18 to 29 about their use of contraceptives.
• Forty percent said it did not matter whether people use birth control.
• Over 60 percent said they knew little or nothing about birth control pills, and 30 percent said they had little knowledge of condoms.
• About one third of respondents said that birth control pills cause serious health problems such as cancer.
• Almost 30 percent of women and 42 percent of men said it was "at least slightly likely" that they would have unprotected sex in the next three months.

According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, about half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.

Labels: pregnancy, birth-control

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About 15 percent of teenagers say they've been sent nude or nearly nude photos on their cell phones, and 4 percent admit to sending such sexually explicit messages. Whether your teenager admits to "sexting" or not, there are steps you can take to protect her.

Nancy Shute addressed this topic in a Dec. 17 article on the website of U.S. News & World Report:

Remind kids that all photos can go public. Explain to your children that theres no guarantee that images they send will remain private. The consequences can go far beyond embarrassment.

Cincinnati teen Jesse Logan committed suicide in 2008 after a nude photo shed sent to a boyfriend was circulated at her school.

Another teenager was convicted of transmitting child pornography after he sent nude images of his girlfriend to her parents, grandparents and friends. These are extreme examples of course, but even if sexting doesnt result in such dire consequences, it can still ruin a childs reputation.

Talk to your daughter about the dangers of sexting, and monitor her cell phone and social networking use.

Labels: sexting

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Nearly a century and a half after it was established, a program to empower girls and young women continues to employ innovative efforts to help participants overcome obstacles and achieve personal and professional successes.

Michaele Weissman profiled Girls Inc. in the Winter 2009 edition of ForbesWomen magazine:

Girls Inc [is] a national research, education and advocacy organization. The 145-year-old nonprofit was founded during the Industrial Revolution to help young women who migrated from rural areas to work in textile mills and factories.

Today Girls Inc. programs and efforts are focused on the problems that continue to limit the aspirations of girls, especially those who grow up poor.

Three-quarters of the group's members come from families with incomes of $30,000 or less, and nearly 70 percent are minorities. Half of them come from single-parent households. &

Girls Inc. programs teach young women how to resist peer pressure, respect their bodies and their health, prevent teen pregnancy and excel in math, science and technology.

Labels: mentoring, math, technology, science

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A Dec. 11 article on the website of Ghanian radio station Peace FM reported that girls in the Ghana's Nanumba District have organized in an effort to gain greater access to educational opportunities:

A girls club called the Nanumba Stop Violence Against Girls, has called for some interventions by government and stakeholders to overcome some of the challenges confronting girls in school.

This includes more female teachers in the Nunumba District to serve as role models and mentors to inspire them for more laurels in life. &

The girls said inadequate female teachers in schools affected their academic performances because they lacked role models and mentors to empower them.

They appealed to Teacher Training Colleges to consciously use favourable admission quota for prospective female students to increase the intake of female students.

The girls added that district assemblies should sponsor more girls into teacher training colleges.

The government and the Ghana Education Service (GES) should also provide enough resources and incentives in schools at all deprive areas to attract female teachers to accept postings to those areas.

Labels: education, international, ghana, girls

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A study from Indiana University School of Medicine found that half of teenage girls will contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) within the first two years of having sex for the first time.Dr. Wanzhu Tu and his colleagues followed 386 girls ages 14 to 17 years old for as long as eight years.

• Within two years of their first sexual experience, half became infected with one or more of the three most common STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.
  
• Dr. Tu believes that his findings highlight the importance of early screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

This study appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Labels: health, sex

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One of two candidates in a Dec. 1 runoff election for mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, used part of a Nov. 30 radio broadcast to promote her familiarity with  and support of  single-sex schools and other innovative educational approaches.

A Nov. 30 article by Atlanta Journal Constitution political reporter Jim Galloway included the following comments from mayoral candidate Mary Norwood:

I have been a strong advocate for charter schools. I've been a strong advocate for innovation. & I do love people being able to think outside the box and have some different rules. ... Other cities have many more charter schools than Atlanta does right now, and we have buildings that are vacant.

We need to be very thoughtful about what our resources are, and how we can best educate our children. ... I'm also a big proponent of single-sex schools. I went to a girls college for two years, and I understand the difference in single-sex education.

Labels: colleges, advocacy, single-sex education, girls school, politics

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At-risk teen and adolescent girls in the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., area have two opportunities to develop their artistic abilities while also learning a number of other lessons that can help them pursue more promising futures.

A Dec. 1 article in the Poughkeepsie Journal provided the following information on the Program for Adolescent Student Women Of Real Direction (PASWORD) and the Adolescent Women Are Realizing Empowerment program (Project AWARE):

PASWORD and Project AWARE use the arts to address gender-specific issues for middle and high school girls at risk in the Poughkeepsie and Beacon areas.

Professional artist-educators help girls realize their personal strengths, talents and passions as they develop self-expression, self-esteem, discipline and friendships in a safe environment.

Participants attend tuition-free thanks to sponsors including the Community Foundation of Dutchess County, the Dyson Foundation and United Way of Dutchess County.

Labels: at-risk youth, girls, art

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During World War II, Rosie the Riveter was an iconic image that represented the strength and abilities of women who were supporting the war effort by working in previously male-dominated workplaces such as factories.

Sixty-five years later, Rosie is still serving as a symbol of female empowerment, this time as the inspiration for a charter school for girls in Southern California. Bob Pool of the Los Angeles Times described the innovative objective of Rosie the Riveter High in a Dec. 3 article:

The Long Beach charter school was created in 2007 to help prepare teenage girls for careers as welders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other trades.

Today, its 50-member student body includes girls and boys, but its organizers still attempt to break down barriers for women seeking careers in what largely remains a man's world.

"It's about trying to change the way society looks at women," said Lynn Shaw, who helped create Rosie the Riveter High. "We just feel that women should have an equal opportunity." ...

"The idea had been to call the school Youth Opportunity Charter High School or something like that," Shaw said. "But that sounded really boring."

The group's executive director, Alexandra Torres Galancid, suggested that they name it after Rosie instead.

Labels: education, charter school, career

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An overburdened school for girls in Ireland was forced to hold a lottery to determine which prospective students would be allowed to enroll next year, a move that has upset a number of parents and children in the community of Tullamore, Co Offaly.

A Nov. 22 article by John Whelan of Independent.ie provided the following glimpse into the controversy:

Sacred Heart had 175 applications for 120 positions. School principal Pauline McKenna says 50 places were set aside for sisters of existing students and three are reserved for exceptional cases.

The Sacred Heart School was founded by Catherine McAuley in 1836; but it is 1985 since any structural development took place at the school, which is operating to its capacity with 700 students.

"We are gutted by what has happened," said one desperate parent."We have appealed the decision as our daughter has gone to a town school all along and we assumed she would simply go on to the Sacred Heart. All her friends got in and she didn't.

"This is very hard for a 12-year-old to take and we don't have any other options, unless a boarding school and that's not possible. It doesn't seem fair," complained the mother, who was also anxious not to be identified as she and her husband still hope their daughter can join friends in secondary school at the Sacred Heart next September.

Labels: girls school, admissions, ireland

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Community opposition has derailed plans to build a Muslim school for girls with a capacity of 5,000 students in Briefield Mills, England. But according to a Nov. 30 article in the Lancashire Telegraph, the group that led the fight against the school isn't ready to rest just yet:

It was announced earlier this week that Islamic Help, a national charity, had scrapped plans to convert the seven-acre site into a 5,000-pupil boarding school for Muslim girls.

But it was revealed that the 50-pupil Ghausia High School for girls, based in Nelson, will still look to move to the site and the trust will look to create a sports centre for the whole community, alongside a commercial village housing start-up businesses. &

Clitheroe Road Residents Association, which now has a 1,000-person petition against the plans, vowed to continue their fight.

Labels: girls school, great britain, boarding schools, muslim

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Sixty-five high school students from three Rochester, N.Y.-area schools are participating in innovative single-sex science classes that are taught by graduate students from the University of Rochester.

According to a Nov. 30 article by Democrat and Chronicle staff writer Nestor Ramos, the program  which began in 2003 as an after-school opportunity for middle-schoolers  is provides the girls with hands-on learning opportunities, high-level instruction and a supportive environment:

The girls meet for 90 minutes every Thursday to work on hands-on projects, answering science questions of their own devising. This years theme is "Shrinking Our Footprints: Exploring the Science Behind Walking in Balance." The students will present the results at a public forum Dec. 5. &

Keeping Science STARS all female makes sense because boys in science classes tend to dominate the equipment, and teachers involuntarily focus their attention on the boys, asking challenging questions and directing more instructional energy their way, [UR assistant professor April Luehmann] said.

Its easier to focus in an all-girl class, ninth-grader Cornelia Joseph said. "It's a girl thing."

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools, science

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