Study Up on Degrassi

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Kids, Cable, Degrassi

I remember as young child without access to cable, I would endlessly flip through the few TV channels that I had.  Such determination mixed with boredom introduced my uncultured mind to a world of things, including a foreign channel called CBC.  Thanks to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I was introduced to endless Bryan Adams videos, unheard of artists like Alison Moyet and most importantly - Degrassi Junior High.

I devoured every Degrassi episode that I could catch.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen on American television.  It was like watching an After School Special every single week. Although I can’t specifically remember all the issues covered during that time (c’mon - that was 1987), I always remembered the episode when the female character, Spike, found out she was pregnant.  She was in junior high!  As someone also in junior high at that time, I was completely stunned to realize that things like that could happen to young pups like me.  Could someone I know also get pregnant anytime soon—or was this just a Canadian thing??  Didn’t this only happen to bad girls in high school?  Now teenage pregnancy may seem like a pretty cliche plot line these days, but this was groundbreaking material at the time, and it was something that was definitely not sugar-coated.

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