Posted on 05/18/2005 11:07:30 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A pregnant student at a Roman Catholic High School, told she could not participate in her graduation ceremony, announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.
Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause from many of her fellow seniors and dozens of others at St. Jude Educational Institute's Tuesday night ceremony.
But some murmured that her act was in poor taste and that it took away from the ceremony, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
The father of Cosby's child is also a senior at the school and was allowed to participate in graduation. His name was not released.
"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005. I feel like we have regressed instead of progressed," said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did."
Alysha Cosby announced her name and walked the stage after the last senior named in the program was called. Her mother and aunt, Debra Blackwell, were escorted out of St. Jude Church by police after Alysha Cosby headed back to her seat.
"I really came to support my classmates. Doing this was really a last-minute thing," Cosby said after her family left the building.
The school's guidance counselor delivered Cosby's degree to her house early Tuesday afternoon, but she still wanted to participate.
"I worked hard throughout high school and I wanted to walk with my class," Cosby said.
Cosby, whose name was not listed on the graduation program, was told in March that she could no longer attend school because of what were described as safety concerns. School officials told her to complete her class work at home.
School policy states that the administration can decide if a student needs to be homeschooled based on medical safety, physiological well-being and social issues.
Take a walk, I've been here since 2001 and don't need some jerk butting in and insulting ME as a way to make a point about not insulting people.
Post #120 is in response to post #100.
PS, before you make rude and completely uninformed posts like that one, you should look at who was uncivil to whom first. But that's too much to ask from someone so rude as you obviously are. Now go boo hoo to someone who cares.
Then maybe you should look at who started the uncivil behavior before you get on your high horse and shoot your mouth off.
Even so....you should know the posting rules!
This will now be the third or fourth time you've seen my tagline. If you can't figure it out by now there's no help for you. Thanks for the boring posts which waste my time.
Well, now. It's really hard to get past this part of the story, isn't it?
...and, before I stop posting for the day
.... feel the need to reiterate that I still agree with many posters here who think decorum, rules and a sense of decency should not be lost to our society.
It's really too sad.
I hope this young woman gets the help she needs .... I would also hope she would someday see why the school needed rules....the very essence of civility.
There are a lot of women, famous women, who have the big weddings, with the white dresses, and have their small children by their fiance' at the wedding. Hopefully, this young lady and her boyfriend will marry prior to the baby's birth.
1. It was wrong to allow the father of the baby to attend, while not allowing the mother. They are both party to the sin of sex outside of marriage; they should both undertake the consequences.
2. This is a private school, and they have a right to enforce the rules as they see fit.
3. The girl did make the more life-affirming choice (and the Godly one) of bringing her child into the world.
I'd like to make a couple of points I haven't seen addressed yet (if I missed them, then please forgive the repetition):
1. While it is highly unlikely that she is the *only* girl to have relations outside of marriage, the visible evidence of her sin only brings it to mind for those who have not engaged in it.
2. If there are *no* consequences to her actions, then it encourages others to believe that there will be no consequences for them, either.
3. We can be supportive of her decision to have the baby without applauding or being accepting of her having sex. This is the silver lining in the cloud, but we dont' have to embrace or celebrate the cloud.
4. Her actions were disrepectful to the school and its leaders. In a world where many conversatives cry about the deterioration of the culture, railing against the leaders of the school who are trying to maintain a sense of propriety is contradictory, at best.
5. Her mother needs some serious therapy. The more mature response would have been to encourage her daughter to accept the school's wishes and recognize that the age of her innocence and youth have passed. Adults accept responsibility for their actions, and actions have consequences.
6. If it were me, and I tried to do that: my MOTHER would have tanned my hide all the way across the stage and chewed me a new one for shaming the family in a public display of petulant selfishness; my FATHER would have made me apologize to everyone for being so disrepectful; they both would have left me to find my own way home, and when I got there, my stuff would have been on the front lawn.
Then again, I grew up "old school." Respect, honor, and decency aren't just words; they are codes we lived by.
Yep, I did address many of your points in my previous (two) posts. I agree whole-heartedly with you. You have said it well, in my viewpoint, as I also believe in living by the codes: Respect, honor, and decency.
I had "morning" sickness 5 times a day, every day, for 8 months while carrying my son. I went through $300 a week just for me, in food, because I couldn't keep anything in my stomach. And yes, my teeth suffered dearly; lost the enamel off the back teeth, just like a bulemic.
My sister had the same thing while carrying her daughter.
All depends on the individual, and their body's reaction to the pregnancy.
#133..What an excellent post!
"2. If there are *no* consequences to her actions, then it encourages others to believe that there will be no consequences for them, either."
There are no consequences to her actions? Oh really? I suppose that having a child at 18 isn't a consequence then? There is no sex without consequences... emotional, spiritual, and physical. The school didn't have to punish her to give her consequences.
I've seen teenage mothers at the Mall who think that their baby is just a fun little accessory, something to be fawned over. I had to hand one of these "mothers" a bottle of formula and diapers and wipes because they remembered to bring their pocketbook with make-up, but neglected to bring their baby's diaper bag. As a mother of two (and expecting a third), the diaper bag was the ONLY thing that mattered to me when I ventured out.
This isn't to say that all teenage mothers are doomed to failure as parents. A very dear friend of mine had her daughter at 17 years old, and still managed to put together a thriving business and raise a loving, successful child. She missed her graduation, too, and completely understood why. No hissy fit on her part.
Punish this girl? Hardly. She chose to ignore the moral lessons being taught by the school, this is a consequence of her actions. If she is still so selfish she has to have things her way after the baby is born, I hope she gives it up for adoption...because she sure isn't ready for the sacrifices necessary to be a decent mother.
No hypocrisy here...
You are awesome.
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