A.I.D.S.
The number of A.I.D.S. and HIV+ cases in schools are on the rise.
Jimmy Roberts, a Health educator at Decatur Middle School reported,
"There was a kid who came back from the Army, and he was HIV+. He had sex with,
and infected four girls at the high school and three girls here at the middle
school." But how does it affect teachers?
Vickie Holloway offered this vignette. "I had a student who wanted to tell me an A.I.D.S. joke. I said I would rather not hear it. He asked why not, and I just shared my personal opinion. I said this is a dreadful disease and people die when they get it. There may be somebody in this classroom who has a family member who is dealing with this disease and this is not something that they would find at all humorous. There are other things that we could laugh about, but this isn't one of them."
In discussing teaching about "safer sex," would you demonstrate how to use a condom on a piece of fruit?" Ron Flickinger replied, "I would talk to people individually. When I'm teaching in front of the class, I have to be careful. If the institution says this is how you put condoms on, the institution is implying that this is an appropriate behavior, that we're kind of giving up. We're saying we just told you that you shouldn't do this, but just in case you do, here's how."
Tama Robertson shared her perspective. "Certainly we'd all have a sinking feeling if it would have made a difference showing a sexually active student how to use a condom... (rather than) that student eventually dying from A.I.D.S. In that case, it was in the best interest of that student and we didn't meet that student's needs. Our hands are tied between the rights of the students and those of the parents."
This document was last updated 6/1/97 by
Chandra Hawley.
Copyright
1996 Indiana University -
Center for Adolescent Studies, all rights reserved.
Kris Bosworth - Director