A Stereotypical At-Risk Life…

At-Risk is a term used to describe students whose economic, physical, emotional, or academic needs go unmet or serve as barriers to talent recognition or development, thus putting them in danger of underachieving or dropping out.

A look at a stereotypical at-risk teen:

Stephanie was raised in Amityville, New York. Her mother, Kathleen, 17 years old, dropped out of high school when she became pregnant. Her father, Stephan, was 20 years old when Stephanie’s mother became pregnant. They married, but love and a desire to spend their lives together were not the motivation. Kathleen was the youngest child in her own dysfunctional family, and marriage was the only option her brothers presented to Stephan.

Both parents were alcoholics, and both had been raised in alcoholic homes. Kathleen was the youngest of five children. She was raised in Amityville, New York. Her German father spent his days sitting at the kitchen table smoking Camel cigarettes and drinking cheap, warm beer from a small glass. While there was always a hush about the home conditions while Kathleen was growing up, there were definite indications that abuse was present in the home. Her grandfather displayed moments of rage throughout Stephanie’s childhood. Stephanie and her younger sister, Susette, stayed with their grandfather during her mother’s many visits to the mental hospital.

Stephan grew up in Elmont, New York. His parents divorced once the kids were out of the home. His mother moved to Florida and began a new life with a new love. His father, a butcher, remained in the same house and drank himself to sleep every night. He was a passive drunk. Stephanie never even recalls Pop-pop raising his voice or becoming angry. She does recall a whole lot of slurred speech and her grandfather always falling asleep in his favorite chair in front of the television.

Stephanie’s mother smoked two packs of cigarettes each day, and she became addicted to an assortment of prescription mood-altering drugs after her first of many emotional breakdown when Stephanie’s grandmother died. After that first breakdown, occurring while Kathleen was pregnant with Stephanie’s younger sister, Susette, Kathleen remained mentally unstable, and she was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. She attempted several jobs as a waitress through the years, but few lasted more than a couple of days. Kathleen was not mentally stable enough to hold down a job, and she raised the girls in government housing, surviving on welfare, social security, and definite poverty.

Stephan, Stephanie’s father, drank heavily, and he regularly dabbled in drugs, from marijuana and pill-popping to cocaine use. After his divorce from Kathleen when Stephanie was three years old, he married again … and again … and again. He moved to Rhode Island with his third wife when Stephanie was about seven years old, and two years later he and his wife moved thousands of miles away to Texas.

Stephanie and Susette stayed with their mother. They survived on food stamps, welfare and social security. Their home was a run-down apartment provided by the government, complete with filth, mice, and bugs. A telephone was a luxury they could not afford, as money was always scarce.

If At-Risk is a term used to describe students whose economic, physical, emotional, or academic needs go unmet or serve as barriers to talent recognition or development, Stephanie clearly falls into this category. The one area of her life which offered hope and stability was school. Stephanie was intelligent, and this academic ability became one of the early indicators that Stephanie might just beat the odds.

 

 

~ by blessed4life on October 26, 2007.