Have YOU ever felt pressured to have sex? Do you think that by having sex will make you seem older? Sex thatʼs what practically every teenage boy and girl is talking about. Have you ever actually thought about the consequences about having sex? I mean what would happen if youʼre a girl and you have sex and then youfind out that youʼre pregnant, what would you do?Teenage pregnancy has been one of the biggest is­sues in our country.The National Center for Health (NCHS) has collected data obtaining the topic of Teenage Pregnancy. Within a period of 10 years (1990-2000) teenagepregnancy has dropped a total of 27 percent. A rateof teenage pregnancy was taken in 1990. 116.3 pregnancies per 1000 women (ages 15-19) were re­ported. This percentage was the highest ever recorded since the year of 1976. In 2000 the rate dropped to 84.5 per 1000 women. This rate was the lowest that was ever recorded since 1976. Does race affect teenage pregnancies rate??? Ac­cording to the data that was collected from the NCHS 33 percent of teenage pregnancies has dropped from white, blacks, and non-Hispanics. But only 15 percent of teenage pregnancies have dropped from Hispanic. Even though the rates havegone down there are still many teenagers who arenʼt careful when they have sex.In some cases teenagers that have babies are be­cause they have been raped or sexually molested. But that is only 5% of teenage pregnancies. The Na­tional Center for Health has hoped the within another decade the percentage will drop even lower. Many people wonder what can we do for teenagers not tohave sex? Well itʼs something that teenagers decide to do, you canʼt stop them. But of course many peo­ple try to help them out thinking that it might make a difference. Hopefully the health classes that are given in high school somewhat changes minds of some teenagers. by Katherine Ortiz

Another cause of cheating is stress. If a student for­gets to do homework or doesnʼt know what to do for it, most of them copy another personʼs homework to avoid getting into trouble. Before, only students who were in the verge of failing, were suspects of cheating. But now, a student above average can be caught copying another persons homework.Deep down, most students only cheat so they can maintain high grades, because we are all under a lot of pressure to do well.

This pressure to do well makes us worry a lot about our report cards. All homework must be turned in. All tests should all be “100”s. All essays should be labeled “Excel­lent”. Cheating seems to be the only solution. We care so much about our grades that we forget about how important learning and studying is. We want that 7 so bad that we run straight to cheating and copying off of our classmateʼs home­work.

Though most of it is our choice; to cheat or not cheat, we as students, arenʼt all to blame. Teachers and parents set the bar high, possibly too high in expectations of us. We feel the pressure to get all of our homework done, not only be­cause we occasionally get distracted, but because teachers overdo it with homework. Teachers and students need to work together to make sure that homework is manageable enough to do at home and students need to stop getting dis­tracted. So, less homework and more staying on track, throughout the whole school year will help students achieve honesty in their work.