Thursday, June 28, 2012

SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School

SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School:


SCOTUS Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School

When Althea, a student in Mauldin, S.C., started taking Yvonne Mason's senior English class, the pregnant teen only wanted one thing: to graduate.

She had an 85 average, and had just transferred to Mauldin High School. "She was lively and she answered questions," Mason recalls. "She didn't always get everything, but she got a lot of it, and I was real proud."

Then, she began to miss class and didn't make up the work. After a few attempts to help Althea, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, it became clear that her family had kicked her out. At 17, Althea was not yet independent but living on her own, making access to health care limited. "I knew she wasn't getting the right prenatal care," Mason said. "We talked, she cried, I promised to help her."

Then she stopped coming to class entirely. She never graduated.

Mason hasn't seen her since, but she heard through a friend that Althea's baby was born prematurely. "I'm