Chapter 10, Part VI: AIDS Program Sends Wrong Message (True Story)

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wo messages clearly received while attending Washington University’s STATS program (Students Teaching AIDS To Students) were:? use condoms, and it’s not the lifestyle that’s the problem, it’s the virus.? The program gave abstinence? a patronizing pat while emphasizing contraceptives? and condoms.

The STATS? program which is taught by Washington University? medical students was “designed to educate young people before they begin behaviors that put them at-risk? of catching AIDS.”[1]? The program was first piloted during the 1989/90 school year.?

An evening program is available for parents to learn about the program and meet the Persons With AIDS, or PWAs as they are called, who visit the classes on the second day of the program to answer questions about their illness.? Parents are not assured that the PWA they met (and with whom they may have been favorably impressed) will be the same speaker that visits their child’s class.?

? A letter to parents states “–Activities and discussion touch on sensitive issues” but does not provide specifics.? The letter assumes ALL students? may attend the class UNLESS parents return the note stating otherwise.? Is this note MAILED to each student’s home, or does the student deliver it? What if a child attends who forgot to deliver the note to their parent(s), and the parent(s) would not have given permission for their child to attend?? ? ? ? ?

The STATS? Survey that is given to students during class is not discussed in class.? One student remarked that she felt the survey? was extremely personal.? She was assured that the survey would only be used for statistical purposes.? However, the answer sheet requested the student’s name, identification number, birth date and special codes.? Students were also asked to provide their grade, sex, ethnic group and school.? Questions on the survey related to:? what causes AIDS, different way of contracting AIDS, latex? condoms, how long it takes to die from AIDS, etc.

In addition, the survey? asked participating seventh-graders how they “felt” about people with AIDS, and if they believed they could get AIDS from having sex without using a condom.? They were also asked, “Which statement describes you best?:? I have never had sex; at any given time I have only one partner for sexual intercourse; in any given month, I have had more than one sexual partner.”

The video shown to the class was titled “The Subject is AIDS.”? Only one of the three girls portrayed in the video practiced abstinence.? A young man portrayed in the video indicated that he was anxious to be sexually active.? Statements made in the video include:? “AIDS is hard to get–two kinds of sex:? intercourse–guys gotta wear condoms–anal intercourse–drier and tighter in there–easier to tear–use a condom,–we went together to a clinic.? I got on The Pill? and Gary uses a condom,–it’s a little embarrassing at first, but then you get used to it,–it’s not their fault they have AIDS.? No one’s to blame but the virus,–now I know it’s not the gay’s fault, it’s the virus,–use a condom,–if you choose not to have sex, that’s okay too–.”? ?

The two medical students played classroom games with the students.? One game involved two teams that try to stump the other with questions.? No questions (nor answers) incorporated abstinence.? Though abstinence is? “covered,” students learned the REAL message: use condoms.

How many students will die from AIDS? having never read The Washington Times? April 22, 1992, article in which C.M. Roland? (editor of “Rubber Chemistry and Technology”) visually compares the sizes of sperm, the pores in perfectly good latex, and the AIDS virus?? According to Roland, the AIDS virus is “smaller by a factor of 50 than the standard holes in latex rubber.”? Yet a game played by students in the STATS? program taught students that condoms? are 99 percent effective!

In another game, each student received a large index card on which they put their name.? Students were instructed to find a “partner” whose name was to be added to the card. Additional “partners” were to be found and their names also added to the card.? Students were not told ahead of time that these “partners” were to represent sexual partners.? Nor were students instructed to find “partners” of the opposite sex. AFTER students turned to anyone nearby to have them sign their card, were they informed that the names on their card meant that the student had sex with those “partners.”? Students whose card had a large “A” (indicating they had AIDS) were instructed to stand.? Students with a card containing the name of any student standing were also instructed to stand.? Eventually most students were standing.? No one was asked if they abstained.? “Partners” were assumed to have been sexually active.? One student who refused to participate was sent to the office.? Perhaps he found the game embarrassing and inappropriate since classmates’ names on his card were to indicate having had sex with them.?

The chalk tray was used for the Timeline game.? Students placed placards that stated sexual activities, on the timeline that progressed from “definitely safe” and? “safe,” to “risky” and “definitely risky.”? Cards to be placed on the timeline included:? french kissing, masturbation, being straight (considered definitely safe IF using a condom,) anal intercourse, oral-genital sex? (which moved up the timeline to LESS risky when using a condom), etc.

My heart broke as I watched the last vestiges of a seventh-grader’s innocence shatter when he asked, “What’s anal intercourse?”? As the young medical student struggled to find a ladylike answer, a classmate explained it in? “street” language.? The young man was mortified, hiding his discomfort with an embarrassment grin.

The STATS? program seemed to be inconsistent with the school’s character education program that teaches students to accept responsibility for, and the consequences of, their actions.

Desensitizing a child’s sense of modesty jettisons him/her down the timeline toward sexual activity.? The earlier one becomes comfortable with a sexual activity; the earlier one is likely to participate in it.? A recommend alternative is an STD/AIDS? program from the Medical Institute for Sexual Health? (MISH) who may be reached at 1-800-892-9484 to obtain the name of a local contact, additional information and sexuality health information.

Parents need to look into what kind of AIDS, substance abuse, and “prevention” programs are being provided to their children by schools.? As concern for this type of program is calmly voiced by caring parents school districts may request that such programs be discontinued or rewritten.



[1] “Stopping AIDS? Before It Starts,” Outlook, Spring, 1990, p.13.