European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Is a healthy defense of Heidelberg highs aids education Chrissy Mcmannes Many students at Heidelberg High school were outraged by Jay inmans be our guest column in the oct. 4 sunday Magazine. Inman singled out has and stated his objections to the Way he presumes students learn about aids. His presumptions were based on one single article he read in 1 he stars and stripes a High schooners teach classmates about condoms a sept. 17. His column shows he is not Well informed about the aids education program at has or about teen agers. Heidelberg High under the guidance of the school nurse and the 130th station Hospital started a program in which students learn How to teach other students about the causes of aids How it is spread and How it can be prevented. The prevention includes abstaining from sex and protecting yourself with condoms if you choose not to abstain. Inman wrote a fall one proves when Peers teach Peers is that a counsel of fools listens Only to that shows Inman does not know that Heidelberg highs student instructors Are educated about aids and can teach this subject As Well or maybe better than most teachers and parents. The student instructors arc required to take three full Days of red Cross training which includes teaching techniques facts about aids prevention of aids and ways to overcome embarrassment in presenting the subject. Before they arc certified As instructors the students must pass a written examination and do a practice teaching session. Professional teachers certainly have More classes on How to teach but they probably have not taken a specific course on teaching the sensitive subject of aids. Also Inman docs not know that the students teaching the course arc required to apply and submit three teacher recommendations and be chosen by a committee before they Are allowed to take the red Cross training. Inman wrote a the people student aids instructors who sponsored that class obviously know nothing about abstinence curriculum and their yet abstinence is part of the student instructors presentations. Student instructors offer different ways to say a a not to sex. These same instructors that Are being criticized by Inman Are the same people who sponsored Mishael Boyers presentation describing her life with aids. In Boyers speech she stressed that the Only Way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases like aids is not to have sex at All. Inman accused the red Cross and Heidelberg highs a a people of not realizing that a preventing pregnancy and disease control Are two absolutely different he wrote a the average condom has holes the size of 5 microns barely Able to hold Back Inman does no to name his source and he also does not say if he is talking about Latex condoms or animal membrane condoms or a combination of both. Has student instructors make sure that teen agers know that animal membrane condoms will not offer Protection from his. Inmans quote implies that condom failure causing pregnancy and disease is because of a a holes in the condoms. However w. Howard Cyr from the Center for devices and radiological health food and drug administration states in poster abstracts from the Vii International conference on aids july 1992 that a there is no Standard technique of testing condoms for virus Cyr did studies using a new technique to test virus penetration by putting a surrogate Challenge virus 27 manometers his is 100 manometers in diameter under a pressure of 60 Millimetres. He found that More than 98 percent of the Latex condoms tested did not allow penetration at the detection limit. Condom failure most often has to do with improper use and or storage of condoms. This fact reinforces the need for better education of teen agers on proper condom use to increase the effectiveness. Studies in menus reproductive health by Janice Swanson and Katherine Forrest show that failure rates for condoms Are highest in a males first year of having sex because of incorrect and inconsistent use and that the most effective condom users Are older have More education and Are motivated to prevent pregnancy. Hence teen agers need More education on the proper use and storage of condoms not less. No one at has is teaching that condoms totally prevent aids. The has student instructors Are teaching that Latex condoms reduce the risk especially if used with spermicides. Some teen agers no matter what you say will go out and have sex. You can scream abstinence until you arc Blue in the face and it wont faze the teenager once he or she has made up his or her mind. So Why not try and offer Protection instead of none at All trying to scare teen agers by telling them that sex is a a dangerous and that condoms can a barely hold Back sperm is probably not going to Stop them from having sex. It is just going to give them an excuse not to use condoms because they will figure that condoms wont help anyway in his last paragraph Inman wrote that 3 million teen agers become infected with a sexually transmitted disease each year. It makes me wonder if he Ever thinks about what that number would be if we did not promote Safe sex. Abstinence is the Best Way to keep Safe of any sexual problems but if you Are going to have sex make sure you reduce the risk of problems by using Latex condoms and a spermicide. Heildelberg High school has a history of excellent aids education programs. I bet or. Inman does not know that has was judged first in the nation in 1990 by the National Pat for its aids education program. Parents teachers and students were involved in winning this award. Training student leaders to be red Cross aids instructors was meant to add something More to an already excellent program. Jay Inman should not try to pass moral judgement on Heidelberg High without recognizing that has students strive for excellence in All areas of education As Well As extracurricular activities. Chrissy Mcmannes is a Junior at Heidelberg High school in Germany. Send in your column plus a photo of yourself to be our guest sunday Magazine the stars and stripes Apo 09211 or Postrach 11 14 37, d-6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany. Opening laugh Martin Toronto Canada cheats c a pm n b 5cho<jl pop re she course to i it contents the cover 4 v visiting behind bars. Sidelights.5.7, 9 Dave Barry s gift list. Clarence Page shoots Down Marge Schott backers. Odds amp miss manners answers a mugging victim. In tune 11 Roseanne Arnold enters attacking. This week sfilms.12-13 c Hack Vinch gets a lift from Quot the bodyguard. A a a pcs circuit listings. Quot television listings 14.17 local Cable and satellite schedules. Home entertainment.18 Joe Pesci Babbles on in Quot lethal weapon 3. Quot voices .21 Hillary putting on the Arkansas Ritz. Words amp wit.24 James Kilpatrick conceives certain goofs. Books 25 the Rise of Gen. Colin Powell. In per the .27 i he Book on Martina Navratilova. Last laugh .28 Dave Barry has a word for it. In a r. United artists Annie Hall starring Diane Keaton and Woody alien lands in a movie Hall of Fame. Page u. Sunday is a weekly supplement of the stars and stripes editor Bucky Fox Art direction Wes Booher _ _ production Mon Trice Presley editorial assistance Louis Pierce Page 2 a sunday december 13, 1992feedback it. Col. John Cribbs Idar Oberstein Germany a a it a right to put those magazines in a special Section. They re set aside so Only people of the proper age Are exposed to Floc ma8azinos that the naval support activity commander ordered off shelves at Nav Exchange outlets in the Naples Italy area question should the military be Able to keep you from buying magazines such As Hustler staff sgt. Michael Mathis. Wiesbaden a Germany a no because of our Freedom of rights. If that s a person s preference and they want to buy or desire that Type of Bop that a their preference. That s what this is All about Gil Garcia Oso Norway Quot As Long As its done discreetly where minors done to have Access to it i done to see any reason Why the military should prevent people from exercising their right to Purchase these staff sgt. Randy Adams Raf Lakenheath England a i think it s up to the individual. They know what they want to look at and they make the Money to buy it. So if they want to buy it they should he Able to. Nobody else should be Able to Tell them what to do about staff sgt. Larnell Lindsey Bauml Iolder Germany Quot i think they should he Able to pull them. There a Freedom of speech hut there a usually a lot of kids around and there a no one to watch sgt. Will Lam Ashmore Klar Bicisk in. Iei1 i i m a Lippoi Ali i a a a me n Ament 11 i a a ii j \ i 1 in Lemm k e i to. Quot sgt. Maj. 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