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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993                   TAG: 9301270315
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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SCHOOL PROMOTING PREJUDICE, FEARS

AS A ninth-grade student at Hidden Valley Junior High School, I am deeply concerned about a requirement for parental permission to attend a session with an AIDS patient to take place at my school in February. My health teacher explained that this was simply because someone with the disease would be in the room, and perhaps some parents would not wish their children near her. I am appalled at this display of prejudice and hypocrisy.

In the eighth grade, our entire first semester of English literature was devoted to learning about prejudice in the past and present. We were even required to write a paper on "Modern Problems of Prejudice," yet we do not hesitate to apply that same prejudice when it comes to victims of AIDS. By requiring parental consent, it is implied that sitting in the same room with a woman infected with AIDS puts us at risk of catching the disease.

AIDS has been a recognized disease in this country for 10 years, and through this kind of behavior we are giving the general public false information about the disease. As a result, the victims are objects of ridicule, disgrace and violence. I do not believe that it is acceptable to encourage ignorance, simply to avoid conflict with people who need to learn some basic facts about AIDS. KIM WESTERMANN ROANOKE

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