http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/TeachLearn/OfficeCurriculumProfessional

Development/HealthEducation/Resources/HIVAIDSCurric.htm#8

The New York City Department of Education developed and implemented its own HIV/AIDS curriculum in 1995, my last year of elementary school (2). The curriculum provides for HIV/AIDS education beginning in kindergarten with questions such as “How do people get sick? What is HIV? What is AIDS?” and continues on each year to twelfth grade with topics such as “What are the social and economic issues related to the HIV epidemic and living with HIV/AIDS?”. This program goes beyond the New York State Health Education and Board of Regents requirements to address the extremely critical nature of AIDS in New York City.

            Both my middle school and high school took the same approach as the NYC Department of Education, they each built on the legally required curriculum to address the issues that AIDS brought up within the school’s own community.     

            While I was attending middle school at the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Education every December a mandatory AIDS Action Day was held for the entire school in honor of a student, Ebony Washington, who died of AIDS. During the three years I was at LAB a portion of the AIDS quilt was brought to the school, an HIV+ teenager spoke, AIDS fundraisers were held, HIV/AIDS prevention lessons were given to every class and condoms were distributed.

            My high school also had an AIDS Awareness Day that focused on many of the same issues as middle school, as well bring others into focus. On AIDS Awareness Day each teacher was required to integrate HIV/AIDS education into some part of their lesson, so the science teachers would discuss the virus its self, while the health teachers would talk about prevention and the history teachers would talk about the international implications of AIDS. In addition the student run portion of the day focused removing the idea that AIDS was purely a homosexual and drug user disease. The intensity and thoroughness of my AIDS education in middle and high school definitely contributed to my overestimation of AIDS cases in my zip code.

http://history.nih.gov/NIHInOwnWords/assets/images/archive/quilt_lg.jpg