TV Reviews : ‘TeenAIDS’ Probes for Right Answers

The language is graphic, the images disturbing. “TeenAIDS: Sons and Daughters,” a special edition of KCET’s “By the Year 2000,” looks at how teen-age behavior affects the spread of AIDS. It airs at 9 tonight on Channel 28, hosted by Joseph Benti.

We see young people from different backgrounds: an HIV-infected, middle-class, young mother; a street kid who prostitutes himself for drugs and says condoms are “a hassle”; a group of high school students who admit to sexual activity without protection--they “forget” in the heat of the moment.

Most disturbing, however, is the second half of the program. Benti challenges a panel of students, teachers, administrators and consultants with a hypothetical situation: There’s a student with AIDS on campus and word has gotten out. How will the educational system deal with students, parents and the community at large?

The ensuing discussion clearly illustrates the existing limitations of AIDS education: Its moral and political subtexts and our own squeamishness make it difficult to address with clarity.

The panelists suggest first holding a big student assembly. No, make it small discussion groups. No, first have doctors counsel the faculty. No, first work on teaching students “self-esteem.”

Time is too short to come up with many answers, but Benti keeps up the pressure and at least one common-sense solution to get the word out is proposed--a student-to-student counseling program.

In the end, Benti has proven his conclusion that in preventing the spread of AIDS, “our willingness to talk clearly and rationally about this plague” is as important as medical research and behavior modification.