More AIDS Education Needed, Expert Says

Frank and comprehensive AIDS education must be implemented into public school curriculums from kindergarten onward, a director of a coalition of child advocacy groups said yesterday at a School of Education-sponsored workshop.

Devon Davidson, who is the AIDS education project director for the National Coalition of Advocates for Students, said that detailed instruction to children about the disease which has killed more than 70,000 people in the United States is essential to combatting its spread into younger and younger segments of the population.

Davidson made the remarks at a Gutman Library workshop held for the Principals' Center of the Ed School. The center provides professional services for about 600 public school educators and administrators from throughout the Northeast.

"The challenge for schools is to help kids overcome denial by emphasizing high-risk behavior" rather than simply discussing AIDS as a disease that strikes risk-groups such as gay men and drug users, Davidson said. In actuality, she said, teen-agers are becoming a high-risk group themselves because of the lack of education.

Schools should explain the details of AIDS transmission during sex to teach students how to avoid infection, she said. She also urged schools to go beyond traditional programs of sexual education to not only explain such practices as using condoms but also to teach social skills that may prevent the development of habitual high-risk behavior.

"Students need to know which [sexual practices] are risky, and which are safe," she said. "They need to learn the skills needed to make healthy decisions."

Other speakers at yesterday's workshop, attended by approximately 20 members and their guests, outlined a model for training staff and organizing community support for AIDS education. Principal Dennis J. Harrington, of Maple Wood School in Somersworth, N.H., and Somersworth District Guidance Director Elaine M. Lauterborn described how they began training educators for AIDS education last year.

Harrington said all teachers in the Somersworth district were required to attend an AIDS workshop last year to improve their ability to deal with issues raised by the disease.

"We made sure teachers knew that if they felt uncomfortable they would not have to teach AIDS education," added Lauterborn.

Mildred A. Blackman, director of the Principals' Center, said all schools need to address the problem of AIDS. "The epidemic is growing daily and it's not going to go away," she said.