"Trojan Wars: Will the City's AIDS Education be as Good As Its Sex Ed?" You'd Better Hope Not

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1990. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Trojan Wars: Will the City's AIDS Education be as Good As Its Sex Ed?" You'd Better Hope Not

Village Voice (12/18/90) Vol. 35, No. 51, P. 11
Houppert, Karen

Abstract: Even proponents of New York City's plan to distribute condoms in high schools want to see some kind of counseling given with the contraceptives. However, if comprehensive AIDS education in the schools is deemed enough to educate these kids, everything will not work out okay in the end, writes Karen Houppert in the Village Voice. New York City sex education is so watered down by the time the kids get it--by the districts, the principals, and then the individual teachers, each changing it to fit the school's or his or her personal needs--that kids may know next to nothing about sex, contraception, or AIDS by the time they finish. Teachers are seldom comfortable discussing what kids need to know--what a condom is and how to use it--and kids are often uncomfortable asking the questions they need answered. Rather, emphasis is placed on definitions or moralistic attitudes that leave kids ill-prepared for spontaneous intercourse. What kids learn is meager or nonexistent, according to the kids themselves, and certainly not enough to protect them from pregnancy or AIDS.

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