In the early 1970’s one of my high school speech classes which was comprised of 13 girls and 12 boys, had an unusual twist. From September through May nine of the thirteen girls came to me to say they were pregnant. Let me repeat that, nine of thirteen girls 18 years or under were pregnant. Teen-age pregnancy was an amazing problem in local high schools and over the years it continued to become a national problem. According to a recent USA today news article, the teen birth rate between 15 and 19 has dropped to its lowest level since 1940. In fact, the rate has fallen more than 3% per year since 1991. Talk about good news in this country. That statistic is certainly nice to hear. Even the rates for young women under the age of 30 have shown a fallback to 1976 numbers. Look, don’t get me wrong. I have four children and eight grandchildren and I am all for responsibly raising families. But, the young unwed mother problem has been a real challenge. What seems to be happening is the economic downturn has played a role but a sociologist from Christopher Newport University says, “Reading all those trends together, it could indicate (the USA) is continuing to move toward a later birth pattern.” I don’t think that those nine girls in my class were thinking far enough ahead to move to a later birth pattern but less teen pregnancy is great for our young people and all of us older folks. It looks to me that some of the new additions in education are starting to take hold. As a former teacher who faced enormous challenges in the classroom with teen pregnancy I am delighted to see this change. What do you think?Fewer Teen Pregnancies