who gets pregnant should discuss her choices with her parents.... I believe that if I were preg-
nant, I would be able to tell my parents and get their support whatever my choice. But just be-
cause I am able to talk to my parents doesn’t mean that I think that informing someone’s parents
should be the law.... Often teenagers have bad relationships with their parents and they are un-
able to talk with them about anything. A law that required parental consent before an abortion
would only make things worse in these families. It would not create a better relationship. It
would only lead to explosions.A second young woman represented the Forum Club at a board of education public hear-
ing on condom availability in high schools. She told the board:
It is certainly not a secret that many high school students are sexually active today. While some
are very conscious and practice “safe sex,” many do not. Many teenagers... deny that they can
be victims of sexually transmitted diseases. They think that they are invulnerable. Condom avail-
ability in the schools, when combined with a comprehensive program of sex education, would
help teenagers become more sexually responsible. This would lead to less teenage pregnancies
and less sexually transmitted disease. My advice is “Save a Life—Use a Condom!”These young women and the other members of the Forum Club represent the kind of
thoughtful, committed high school students and leaders that educators hope schools will
produce. Not only did they transform themselves socially and intellectually through their ac-
tivism, but they elevated the interest and performance levels of every student they worked
with in class and in the school. What is interesting is that they, and Sean Brown, became stu-
dent leaders in similar ways. They were given an opportunity and encouragement and they
responded.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Christensen, L. (2000).Reading, writing, and rising up. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.
Greene, M. (1995).Releasing the imagination, essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.
Johnson, D., Johnson, R., Holubec, E., & Roy, P. (1993).Circles of learning: Cooperation in the classroom(5th ed.). Minne-
apolis, MN: Burgess Publishing Company.
McCunn, R. (1991).Thousand pieces of gold: A biographical novel. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
166 CHAPTER 6