Growing up as a teenager in today’s society is not as

Aids

Growing up as a teenager in today’s society is not as easy as it may have been in generations past. Young adults of today’s era face many social and environmental issues that plague them with immense stress. For example, violence among youth and, more specifically, school shootings and gang violence strike fear among every adolescent’s mind before they face each day at school. And the pressure from peers for using and abusing illegal drugs is as strong as it has ever been. But today, the youth of America are faced with a crisis unique to the modern era; the soaring rate of adolescent AIDS infection. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, causes the terminal Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS weakens the body’s immune system to a point where any ordinary infection, such as the flu or common cold, can cause death. Originally thought of as a “Gay-Man’s” disease when AIDS was first prevalent in this country in the early eighties, AIDS is now recognized as a major crisis across the country among heterosexuals, in addition to the homosexual population of this country (Mays, Albee, & Schneider, 1989). And in recent years, the rate of occurrence of AIDS among America’s youth has increased at an almost exp

This may be due to the fact that they suffer from an incurable, terminal disease, or it may be the result of a low self-esteem. According to these statistics, up until now, previous interventions for containing and reducing the prevalence of AIDS have not worked. It is also to raise awareness of how one"tms dreams and goals are affected by your choices, pregnancy has no easy solutions, the seriousness of sexually transmitted diseases, the effect emotional scars can have on one"tms life, the failure rate of contraceptives, and the preciousness of the gift of virginity. Their energy is drained and thus they feel they don"tmt have the ability to carry out a task (Valdiserri, 1989). Statistics have shown that, in the past decade or so, the number of AIDS cases among young adults has been on a steady climb. Presentations are limited to fifty students for grades five and six, seventy-five students for grades seven and eight, and one hundred students for high school presentations. In the fifth grade, a time in a child"tms life where they become attracted to the opposite sex, a basic sex-education course should be implemented into the curriculum. In the sixth grade, students will participate in three-week course that would meet twice a week for forty-five minutes per session, which raises awareness of the dangers of the consequences of unprotected sex with the most emphasis on sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. The high school level program is usually put into effect in the ninth grade and is also taught by teachers from each respective school. Regardless of the cause, helplessness is a very big step in the wrong direction for AIDS"tms sufferers because they have come to the realization that they can"tmt help that they"tmre going to die and thus, they give up on any hope to keep fighting. Another mental condition that may develop from illness is known as the "Health Belief Model. The patient may also develop anxiety from trying to prevent any infection from invading his or her body because the infection may cause death. Today, AIDS is recognized as the fifth most common cause of death among people ranging from ages 14-24 years (A Decade of Denial: Teens and AIDS in America, 1992). The next two weeks will emphasize the many advantages of abstinence including the elimination of unwanted pregnancies and contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Along with teaching about the dangers of unprotected sex, the course will also inform students of the use of protection (including condoms, spermicide, etc.