“Excuse me, don’t look at my kids like that. You don’t know my kids. Respect me. You don’t know me.” (Proweller, pg. 105)

As the semester has progressed for me, I really think that the level of empathy I have for urban students has increased tremendously. You could say that before this year, I was not very attuned with school culture in large cities (it’s been a few moons since I was in middle school or high school). My increased empathy is directly tied to seeing day in and day out many of the struggles that students in urban areas experience in school. There are some days when I am in awe that students can and do achieve academically. I am careful though, this type of language can look at urban schools from a deficit perspective, as opposed to spaces with humans that not only have a fundamental right to an education but also possess many skills that will help them succeed because they are urban students.

Reading this article about teenage pregnancy opened the door to a different perspective on a topic that has historically been viewed in a negative light. Proweller humanizes the face behind a teenage mother in a way that makes the reader want to root for her success rather than view her as little more than a perpetual welfare recipient. Thinking about teenage pregnancies from this negative viewpoint doesn’t serve anyone. It doesn’t empower a young mother to respect herself and create positive long term goals for herself and baby. What it does do though, is empower many in the general public to shame and condemn her. It empowers the public so much so that Proweller quotes an interview with Carmen, a young mother who was viewed from a deficit perspective by a random stranger at the bus stop who took it upon themselves to be judge and jury for Carmen without knowing any of her circumstances.

It’s easy to look at Carmen when you don’t have any skin in the game, but as teachers, we are invested in Carmen. We owe it to Carmen and her baby to look at them as more than “Ugh.”