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New York City is dubbed “the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
According to the CDC about half all new HIV infections are in people
under 25 years old and amongst high school public schools almost half
of the students report being sexually active. The disease is obviously
very prevalent and, with one in four teens admitting to not using a
condom during their last sexual intercourse, the DOE finds the
curriculum is curicial to our generation’s health.
This curriculum is taught to every New York City public school student
in the kindergarten through 12th grade. Students can be opted out of
this program by their parents. However, the DOE will not let a student
opt out of any one of these lessons except for lessons on prevention.
Also, if a student is opted out, then their parents are required to
teach them the lesson on prevention at home.
The curriculum, albeit called the HIV/AIDs curriculum, does not
necessarily start out with lessons on sex and HIV. In Kindergarten,
students learn about the meaning of health and germs. One of the things
kindergarteners are taught is a deviation of ‘If you’re happy and you
know it, clap your hands’ which goes ‘If you’re healthy and you know
it, wash your hands.’ Later on, however, the kindergarten curriculum
goes into defining HIV and AIDs, although leaving out sex. All it
discusses is that it is transmitted through blood and is related to
“unhealthy” practices. Throughout elementary school, the curriculum
goes into making healthy decisions, viruses and how HIV/AIDs has
affected society. In middle
school, the curriculum goes into details about the immune system, and
how alcohol and drugs affect the body. The high school curriculum goes
into depth about HIV/AIDs, immunity and the affects of drugs/alcohol
use. The DOE assures parents “that these lessons are age-appropriate
and protective.”
But many
people believe that this curriculum was not necessarily a good or
helpful thing. One tenth grader says she believes that “the HIV
curriculum didn’t give us anymore info than we already had.” Another
tenth grader, Jimmy Turturo also agreed, saying that “it was mostly a
rehash of what I knew, personally.” For most high school students, it
seemed like a waste of energy because it consisted of facts they
already knew. Also, 11th grader Sophia Bourara thought that the HIV
curriculum could have been made more helpful if “it could relate to our
lives and everyday situations. It mostly had to do with completely
foreign situations to us.” She also said that “we were barely allowed
to ask specific, personal questions that related to our own
circumstances.”
| | Ninth
grader Noreen Calin added that the BSGE classes preached abstinence
more than the sex education class at her prior Catholic school. The DOE
curriculum does stress abstinence and instructs teachers to do so too.
The introduction in the curriculum booklet says, “Students need to know
that at this stage of their lives, abstinence from sexual intercourse
and injection drug use is the safest and most developmentally
appropriate choice to protect themselves from HIV infection.”
Another
concern with this HIV curriculum is the idea of teaching it to 5 year
olds. Although, the curriculum with kindergarten students does not
talk about sex, it still may be too much for them to handle. Sophia
thinks that kids of that age are just too young and “the curriculum
might just encourage too much curiosity about sexual activity and they
are just too young to have the capability of fully grasping the concept
of HIV.” Tenth grader, Heajin Kim says, however, that teaching kids
about HIV at that age “is perfectly fine as long as it is age
appropriate and not specifically about sexual intercourse.” She also
says that it has to be taught more carefully to kids of that age and it
is up to the teacher to make sure they don’t get the wrong idea of
HIV/AIDs.
Either
way, as NYC students, we are required to take part in this curriculum
since the DOE believes that it is necessary for us to study the
epidemic because “research shows that significant numbers of young
people still engage in behaviors that put them at risk for HIV
infection.” The curriculum pamphlet begins with the inspiring words:
“…we hope to hasten the day when HIV/AIDS becomes an epidemic of the
past.” | |