This paper discusses the need for AIDS education in high school.
This paper shows how education is the key to understanding AIDS and without proper understanding of this disease, people do not stand a chance at protecting themselves. As such, the extent to which this education has to be distributed must begin within the school system ” with particular emphasis upon young teens ” in order to provide the most inclusive guidance at the earliest possible point. The author illustrates that if young teens learn from the start the truth about HIV and AIDS, society will eliminate unfounded fears and judgmental attitudes from at least one population.
“Another side of the economic issue is the fact that AIDS, for the most part, infects people in their “most productive years” (Harris, 1987, p. 109), rendering them unable to help themselves while steadily increasing the burden on society. For those in the age group of twenty-five to forty-four, these are the fruitful years when everyone is padding their nest egg for the future; it is also a very lucrative period for government taxes paid in by this particularly hearty section of the population. But now, with the most dependable sector of society slowly being dismantled from the work force — and even having to draw from the very government programs they once helped subsidize — that lost revenue must be replaced by another source if these programs are to continue being offered to those who need them (Harris, 1987).”