The Lost Children Of Canton, Ohio

About six years ago, PBS produced The Lost Children of Rockdale County, a documentary about teenagers in an affluent Georgia community whose disturbing sexual activities came to light when a syphilis outbreak struck many of the kids. I was reminded of this when I saw this story. A few highlights:

Of the 490 female students at Timken High School in Canton, 65 are pregnant. And according to the Canton Health Department, 104 of the 586 babies born in local hospitals so far this year had mothers between 11 and 19. Nearly 20% of all births were to teenage or younger mothers, and apparently some as young as 11.

I know it's been a long time since I was in high school (class of '88), but what's happened to kids today? In a school of 1200 - 1300 students, we had maybe two or three pregnancies a year school-wide. One out of every 13 girls in this school is with child. Unbelievable!

As an aside, the Timkin High School mascot... the Trojan.