Illiteracy and the Youth of America

Illiteracy and the Youth of America

Illiteracy has been a growing problem in the United States for the past two decades. With the baby boomer nearing retirement, the United States general workforce of corporate America calls for a new generation of workers, one that is statistically unable to answer that call due to the spike in the amount of functional illiterates that exist and are even being graduated. In a more focused lens the states classified as “Southern” seem to suffer from the epidemic the most. The problem in every instance develops at what researchers call “the years we are most impressionable” (3-11). Reading and learning to read has been completely phased out outside of the classroom, but in states such as Mississippi, much isn’t being done inside the classroom to prevent the problem either.

The Bush Administration took what looked like a step towards improving the illiteracy rate when it implemented the “No Child Left Behind Act.” The controversial legislation mandates “highly qualified” teachers in every classroom and holds schools that accept federal funds accountable for raising the achievement of all students, particularly those with disabilities, those from low-income families and racial and ethnic minorities and those with limited English proficiency.

Jasmine Carter, a University of Mississippi alumna that currently serves as a regional admissions counselor spoke on the issue calling it completely ridiculous. Working this particular position, Jasmine is in charge or recruiting for potential  students in High School in the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and her home state Mississippi.

              

  When I asked about her thoughts on illiteracy, Jasmine had this to say; “As a regional counselor we are taught to keep an eye out for the best and the brightest students out there. Some of the inner city schools in Jackson Mississippi and cities like East St. Louis particularly, usually generate the poorest reading scores that I will see. Unfortunately these are schools, high schools rooted deep in the black community where illiteracy seems to take the biggest toll.”          

                When asked how do these students continue to slip through the cracks and gain entrance into institutes of higher learning or even better yet, graduate from HS Ms. Carter said she works with students as far as compliance goes if they show potential to come and be successful here at the University. Without there being a magic score that automatically qualifies you for acceptance, the university gauges whether or not a student will be able to adapt. If there’s a particularly low score in reading comprehension on the prospects ACT or SAT, the institution will incorporate some type of immediate help into the schedule once they start here. Suggestions usually range from early summer programs at the university to specifically chosen programs or courses throughout the students’ first semester enrolled.

Local illiteracy rates including Tupelo, Columbus, Oxford, & Batesville have fallen slowly but surely over the last couple years from 22 percent of graduating high school seniors being functional illiterates to 27 percent based upon ACT and SAT reading comprehension composite scores graphed by statistic. Arindam Mukherjee, a former vocabulary teacher at Oxford High now employed at the University of Mississippi thinks the system has failed the students miserably in supplying them with a sufficient education. “The (NCLB) policy is irrelevant in the classroom. Because a person met a list of requirements doesn’t mean they’re meeting every child’s academic needs.”

Gerard McClure a TA at the University of North Carolina Central University in Raleigh Durham assists a professor there in an African American Adolesence course. “Reading has always and always will be the fundamental building blocks of everything we do” said Mr. Mclure.  It takes time and practice along with qualified dedicated individuals to learn reading comprehension, and reading outside of the classroom is a big part of that which doesn’t really exist today.”

With over 25 percent of the state’s current students unable to ready pass a 3^rd grade level, signs of decreasing illiteracy rates are nowhere in sight. Extra federal funding to help solve the problem is increasing our national total debt at an even higher rate that we as a country are producing people functional enough to handle the situations.

The ethics of an Ole Miss Journalist

Del Mixon

Journalism 271

The Ethics of an Ole Miss Journalist

562

            OXFORD MS, - The Meek School of Journalism holds a very high standard for its students.  While writing and test scores still hold significance to professors, the teaching of ethics is something that is equally important. “The Journalism School is unique in that it is the only department on campus that offers a course in ethics,” says Professor of Journalism Joe Atkins, “ We have students from other departments who end up taking the class with us.”

             What do the Journalism Professors of Journalism at the University of Mississippi do to teach ethics to future journalists? How can Professors prevent them from cheating in the future?

            A USA News survey of “Groups Most Likely to Cheat Often”, journalists were rated third behind politicians and lawyers, to be likely cheaters. 

Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair are two names often mentioned in horror stories about plagiarism and ethics.  Both Glass and Blair were discovered to have fabricated and plagiarized many of their stories.

            In 2012 Journalist has made the Huffington post’s top ten most stressful jobs list.  It doesn’t surprise Assistant Professor of Journalism,  Debora Wenger that a profession that has strict time constraints and severe pressure might tempt a Journalist to “cut corners”. “It is not justified and should be penalized,” said Wegner. 

            Wenger says that it is important Journalism students are taught the application of ethics before they enter the job field.  Wenger is very involved with the Ole Miss chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, an organization dedicated to preservation of a free press. The organization holds a code of ethics for members; seek the truth and report it, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, and Be Accountable.

             “I do my best to check my facts from sources,” says Alison Bartel, a sophomore writer for the Daily Mississippian, “If there is something questionable then I will double check, or call back the person I have interviewed,”

Bartel writes once a week for the paper and says she enjoys it, although sometimes its stressful turning stories in before a short deadline.

The Internet has changed the way people view the media in the modern world. Today college students exchange information and possibly cheat on papers or assignments can use the Internet.  

“The internet is like a double edged sword for the Journalism department,” says Atkins, “ It has increased the amount of information for students to borrow or steal. But it has also made it easier for Professors to detect plagiarized information.”

Wenger says there is only one instance she knows of where an Ole Miss student plagiarized a story in the student paper, the Daily Mississippian.

             “The student was severely penalized, and no other student has plagiarized since then,” says Wenger.

Although the ethics of journalism cover more than just plagiarism and fabrication Atkins says those are the greatest sin that can be done in journalism. Atkins teaches Journalism 575, a course on mass media ethics. This class is which is required for all Journalism Majors. The class gives lectures and talks teaching students to apply ethics to young Journalists.

“What’s most important about ethics is your own sense of personal integrity,” says Atkins, “ I teach students to be serious in their search for the truth. I teach them to follow their own mission of ‘why am I a journalist?’”

Ignorance is Blitzed

Michael Quirk

11/6/12

JOUR 271

Oxford STD's

628 Words

Ignorance is Blitzed

        OXFORD, Miss. - As the nurse practitioner at the University of Mississippi, Barbara Collier has seem countless cases of sexually transmitted diseases from college students. What is the reason for so many cases of preventable diseases? Is it because the students are not aware of the diseases? No, says Collier. It is because they simply do not care.

         “Most of the students that enroll here have been made aware of STD’s before. They are aware that they are supposed to use protection, but they do not practice it.”

         Who Carries Them

         According to Collier, 85 percent of sexually active adults have had at least one STD in their lifetime. When it comes to students at Ole Miss, she sees a lot more young students (freshmen and sophomores) with diseases than she does older students.

         The American Journal of Health Studies conducted surveys with 24,963 college students regarding their social lives, ranging anywhere from grade point average to condom use. The study found that students who use drugs, alcohol, or are in a sexually abusive relationship are at higher risk of contracting an STD.

         Women who are on birth control are at higher risk of contracting a disease than women who are not. This is because women who are on birth control are far less likely to use condoms than women who are not. This is because they tend to see pregnancy as the worst outcome of unprotected sex, leaving them vulnerable. Only 47 percent of students used condoms the last time that they had vaginal intercourse.

         Awareness

         I spoke to a University of Mississippi male student who contracted Chlamydia least year. The male is a fifth-year Business major who chose to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the problem will be referred to as Jeff for the purposes of this article. Jeff told me that he was aware of STD’s from sexual education classes in high school as well as pamphlets he curiously flipped through in the Ole Miss Health Center.

         Jeff said that while he was aware of the risks, most of his sexual encounters occurred after he drank alcohol, a time when he was not considering those risks.

         “I was aware of the risks, but when you’re drunk and going home with someone, that’s the last thing on your mind.”

         Out of the women interview in the survey, 99 percent knew that STD’s are spread through sexual intercourse. While that awareness is high, 60 percent of women did not know that they are more susceptible to contracting an STD than men and 35 percent did not know that some STD’s could be spread without even having intercourse.

         Where To Go From Here

         Lisa A. Jeffers, a nurse practitioner from the Atlantic General Wound Center in Berlin, Md. said that the first step is to increase awareness to all health care providers about risks all the way up to geriatric patients.

         When it comes to younger students, Collier believes that the first step is for everyone to get tested, no matter how many sexual encounters you have had.

         The health center at Ole Miss offers one-on-one education about STD’s as well as screening. They also use health promotions to raise awareness about getting tested, including putting signs in the Hotty Toddy Potties on football weekends.

         Jeff said that the STD changed his sex life forever. He now uses protection whenever he has intercourse and is more selective in his partners. Even those measures might not be enough to prevent an STD however.

         When asked what she wants to do to raise awareness to Ole Miss students, Collier laughed and said, “I would put up as big of a billboard as I could find.”

http://0-library.cqpress.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2004120300&type=hitlist&num=4

CQ Researcher

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3f8843bd-5e6a-461a-837c-7185c91f0b7f%40sessionmgr104&vid=4&hid=113

Alt Health Watch

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=10dea738-82f0-45ef-810d-5a3c4aaced6b%40sessionmgr113&vid=5&hid=113

Health Source, Nursing and Nutrition

Barbara Collier

662-915-5284

Anonymous Source

Urgent Care Clinic of Oxford

662-234-1090

What the Census Tells Us

Sydney Hembree

Jour 271

November 6, 2012

Census Bureau

620 words

A Population Studies map of the southern states comparing the poverty levels of various counties.

What the Census Tells Us

UNIVERSITY, Miss. – The Census Bureau wonders how the upcoming election will affect funding for states. The census, which affects the number of representatives in Congress, will be affected by whoever comes into office. Why? And what is the census?

How the Census Works

 The Credo Reference database explains that the United States started their own census in 1790 in order to establish the number of representatives each state was allotted based on the population size and to help distribute funding to said states.

The Census Bureau has, up until 2010, sent out long questionnaires covering every aspect of society, such as ‘how many toilets your household has’ or ‘when do you leave to go to work every day’, according to the CQ Researcher database.

In 2010, the Bureau decided to limit those questions to ten, asking only about a person’s age, race, sex, telephone number, birthday, tenure, relationship to the owner of the house, how many people live there, if the person is of Hispanic origin and if there was anyone else to include or not in the survey.

Lynn Woo, a research associate from the Center for Population Studies on campus, explains that, by looking at the demographics, one can tell if the community needs a new hospital, roads, and schools.

“For example, when you look at Oxford, we have more 20 something’s here because we are a college town,” she said. “People should not underestimate the importance of the census because it determines funding the state gets from the government.”

Census versus Students

 Business major Caitlin Eidt recalls filling out her first questionnaire for the census when she was attending Ole Miss as a sophomore.

“I had to say I lived on a college campus by myself and that I wasn't paying for eight kids or something. So I just had to indicate where I lived most of the year, at least, and who I was responsible for,” she said.

Although some of the questions may be considered intrusive on people’s privacy, Eidt didn't have a problem with the prompts.

“I can see where it might be considered intrusive, but I also see it as helpful. I didn't feel like my rights were violated, I just felt like I needed to do it for the state,” she said.

Cliff Holley, a research associate from the Center for Population Studies, mentions that every question asked should be general knowledge.

“[The Census Bureau] likes to think you can guess all the questions by simply looking at a person,” he said. “They won’t ask you for classified information, such as your social security number.”

How to Learn More

 Although the 2010 census came close to accounting for everyone, 1.5 million minorities were missed, according to the Newspaper Source database. Why?

The Center for Population Studies, located in Leavell Hall, has the answer. Its staff is in charge of promoting the census through education and programs. Holley explains that, by hosting training sessions and workshops, students can better understand how their forms affect the general community.

“For example, by filling out the questionnaire, our state gets more representatives,” he said. “[Mississippi] gets twice as many votes as Wyoming because we have twice as many people.”

Even the questions asked from earlier years had an importance, according to Holley. The number of toilets in a person’s home could affect the sewage system of the city and, ultimately, river areas in case of flooding. By comparing when people left in the morning for work, city officials could supply more funding towards new roads for less traffic.

“Every question has a purpose,” Holley said. “There are people who make the data and there are people who collect the data. We try to bridge the gap.”

Sources Used:

CQ Researcher

http://0-library.cqpress.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2010051400

Newspaper Source

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=112&sid=61ee3657-a1d7-4902-bee6-c25ae0ac6922%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=nfh&AN=75381585

Credo Reference

http://0-www.xreferplus.com.umiss.lib.olemiss.edu/entry/abcamerecon/census

Interviews:

Caitlin Eidt   ceeidt@go.olemiss.edu   (601-201-0821)

Clifford Holley    saholley@olemiss.edu    (601-232-7288)

Lynn Woo    lcwoo@olemiss.edu    (662-915-7288)

Advertising: Is it a distraction?

Leslie Dickinson

Jour 271

Advertising

November 6, 2012

Words 591

Advertising: Is it a distraction?

Advertising has been the way companies have gotten business for many years. With the rising of new technology it has been harder for consumers to escape the mass amount of advertisements everywhere they go. Where better for advertisers to go than a college campus where many people walk around and use social media in their daily lives.  

Local Stores

Stores that are on the square find it easy to appeal to college students because to the location of the stores. With the square only being about a mile away from campus, it is very easy to get to the students of Ole Miss. Zoe, a local cosmetics store appeals to the college girl looking for cosmetics. Katherine Aiken, an employee says Zoe appeals to students in a simple way, by just keeping the products girls love in stock. “Zoe advertises by getting to the students through Facebook and Twitter,” said Aiken. With the huge movement of social media local stores have made Facebook and twitter accounts to promote their product. “In my opinion, I think that the most effective way of advertising is the Internet,” said Aiken. “I don’t think the advertisements are distracting, it makes the students more informed about the community.” Yes it is effective but could serve as a distraction for some.

Ads are everywhere, including the union where multiple flyers are posted to grab
the students attention. 

Student Stand Point

While walking to class one can see multiple advertisements, as well as being at home doing homework. Students can be easily dragged in by ads by just seeing a good looking or funny ad. Tanya Howington is one of those students. Howington a sophomore at Ole Miss is an avid shopper and said that if she sees an eye-catching ad, it will stick in her mind when out shopping next. “Whenever I see the words ‘SALE’ on an ad it for sure catches my eye,” said Howington. When on her computer she receives multiple emails from many different businesses informing her about the different sales and new items coming into stock. “When I see this I get distracted from my work and get side tracked by getting on the stores website and I will shop for hours,” said Howington. The use of email spam has come up as a concern to many people, especially when it comes to kids that are in school. According to studies, 15 billion spam messages are sent out daily. With 15 billion spam emails being sent out, there are consumers, some students being easily distracted by the luring ad message.

Professional Views

“Being on a college campus can be one the best places to be on because an advertiser can be more wittier or cutting edge,” said Art Shirley, creative director for Quest Group. Shirley, Ole Miss alum now works in the advertising business. He is the one responsible for creating the ads to appeal to the typical consumer. He has worked on everything from comic strips to commercials on TV. Shirley said that his favorite thing about advertising is the drawing. “Some ads don’t have to be distracting, some really appeal to people, and they enjoy them,” said Shirley. He mentioned that he uses ads that are appealing to students and will create ads that his own sons would want to see, so therefore he wouldn't create the ad that would be in your face distracting.  

            The views on advertising varies from every consumer but studies do show that since the internet and new media have been on the rise and with the invention of things like Tivo advertising has gone to a whole new level.

Contacts

Katherine Aiken

Zoe Employee

Ksaiken3@gmail.com

Tanya Howington

Ole Miss student

770-540-4830

Art Shirley

Creative Director Quest Group

art@getquest.com

Eager for Extraterrestrials

Kristen Stephens

Jour 271

November 6, 2012

Word Count: 788 words

In-depth UFOs

UNIVERSITY - The sky stirs with flashes of light whipping through an otherwise silent, black night. The source is too quick and strange to identify and goes into the stack of sightings classified as an unidentified flying object or UFO. Is there really a chance that another intelligent life lurks within our atmosphere?

    According to the Encyclopedia of American Studies, seven percent of the American population thinks it has seen a UFO.

    The government’s well-kept secrets

    The supernatural has terrorized the minds of the public since the late 1930s. Distraught and confused, the American public panicked during the 1938 Columbia Broadcasting System’s radio reading of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds under the direction of Orson Welles. 

    “People believed it even though the radio broadcast said every 15 minutes or so ‘this is not real,’” said JoAnne Gabrynowicz, professor and Director of the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law. “People didn’t hear that, and they went into a mass hysteria.”

    Even after the 1930s hysteria died down, UFO sightings grew around 1947, soon after World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War. The increase in sightings can be attributed to the public's government trust issues according to Charles S. Clark’s “Pursuing the Paranormal.” 

    “The public had had two years to adjust to the existence of weapons of mass destruction when the era of UFOs dawned,” Clark said. “The term ‘flying saucer’ entered the national lexicon in 1947 - two years after atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”  

    An article by Harvey M. Kahn from El Chicano Weekly stated, in 1953, the Air Force Safety Agency tried to track a UFO flying over Lake Superior in Michigan. The F89C Scorpion Jet they dispatched was able to close in on the UFO, but shortly both aircraft went off the radar and were never heard of again except to say that the pilot of the jet must have suffered vertigo and crashed into the lake.

    Some remain skeptical about whether the government is hiding information regarding UFOs and other intelligent life from the public. Others believe that if the government is hiding something, they do so in the best interests for the public.

  “The government should act as a protector from outside enemies and domestic enemies and that’s about it,” said senior linguistics major Seth Wilson. “If it’s them protecting us as they should from outside invaders, I feel they have a right to privacy until the mission is accomplished.”

Extraterrestrials taking the tax payers’ money

    Today, hype over UFOs has somewhat died down. The topic is less frequent in public circulation and UFO sightings are few and far between, bringing barely any fuel to conspiracy theorists’ theories. Funding for space programs has been cut as some tax payers’ feel the government should concentrate on immediate threats such as war and famine, according to William Triplett’s “The Search for Extraterrestrials.”   

    However, some of the public believe the space program is dire to the country's advancement.

    “It needs to be more funded than any other federal organization,” said Wilson. “The more we know about space, the better we can protect our planet. Like I said, I think [the government] should protect us from outside enemies and sometimes nature is our worst enemy.”

Keeping up with evidence

    Preet Sharma a fourth year Ph.D. student in particle physics served as astronomy lab instructor for undergraduate students. The class peered at the night sky, often looking at far-off nebulae and galaxies, all without a single UFO sighting or disturbance. Sharma commented he was uncertain whether other intelligent life existed and under what conditions they could thrive.

   “It could be possible; it could not be possible,” Sharma said. “It [also] depends on what kind of life you’re talking about. If it is life almost like that of the earth, then conditions of the earth would be the best. If there is some other form of life, which we do not know about, it’s hard to say what the conditions are because it would depend on the type of organisms. 

    For now, due to little evidence to support the theory, whether other intelligent life and UFOs exist is left up to the individual. However, stories on the subject still taunt the media. In October, a family in Scotland claimed to see a UFO hovering around their house for hours according to The Huffington Post. A story about the mid 1900s suggested some conspiracy theorists even believed that extraterrestrials worked in our government.

    Whether the public give government power to extraterrestrials or claim to see evidence of them in the late hours of the night, one thing is certain: they will still lurk the depths of the human imagination.

Hayden Phillips

11/6/12

JOUR 271

576 Words

                                 New Jerseyans around the country stay "Jersey Strong"

            Nobody knew that a town like Oxford, all the way down in Mississippi, could be affected by a storm that hit our country in the very top right corner over one thousand miles away. The University of Mississippi has over 40 students that call New Jersey home and many of their families have been hit hard.

            “The Jersey shore is gone, childhood memories are gone and it will take years to rebuild but we will rebuild and recover. A motto we like to use is ‘Jersey Strong’," said Alex LoMauro, a senior at Ole Miss from New Providence, NJ.

            Ole Miss students from New Jersey that I have talked to have told me of the distress that Hurricane Sandy has pushed on their families over the past week and a half and the government is doing all they can to recover.

            According to James Salmon in an article from Lexis Nexis, last year was the second most costly for natural catastrophe claims in history with a total bill of 67 billion dollars. This included the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the earthquake in New Zealand and the floods in Thailand.

            Last week’s extreme weather in the United States is expected to cost the insurance industry around 12 billion dollars. This would make it the third only to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

            The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Kristie, held his press conference yesterday in the city of Keansburg to address the issue. Ole Miss senior, Michael Sheehan, is from Keansburg and said that his home was out of power for a week, has flood damage, and needs a new roof. Sheehan said that they had it easy compared to his neighbors.

            There was much devastation in the southern part of the state. Chaka Fattah has introduced an act to congress in hopes for it to help in recovery. It is titled the Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Rebuilding Supplemental Appropriations Act and will be subsequently determined by the speaker according to Proquest Congressional.

            There are many families that need the help. Ole Miss student, Sara Dembek, from Little Falls, New Jersey, and LoMauro of New Providence both had plenty of damage done to theirs near the coast.

            “My hometown was destroyed and my family was without power for a week and also my family shore house down at the beach was completely destroyed,” said Dembek.

            Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people. According to an article titled “Disaster Response” from CQ researcher, experts are pushing for new preventive measures, better coordination by the government and an end to the all-too-human assumption that “It can’t happen here.” We need to be more prepared for natural disasters.

            Richard Starmann, who currently works in the field of crisis consulting, has accomplished many things in his life from serving in Vietnam to handling crisis management for McDonald’s. He talks about what to do in the midst of and in preparing for disasters.

            “In a crisis, people are in denial. They are paralyzed. They think that it will go away. Often times I try to get people to understand what is going to happen, what is happening, and what did happen,” Starmann said.

            A couple of other students at Ole Miss including AJ Lapsley from Morristown, NJ and Jake Finnen from Chatham, NJ have families that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. We, as a University, need to offer support and help the names given and many more fight through their struggles. 

A symbol on the University of Mississippi campus representing the strength of the student body especially in times of need. 

HIV/AIDS complacency

            As students arrive on campus their freshman year they are not only faced with a new experience but also with a harsh reality. HIV/AIDS is an increasingly overlooked sexually transmitted disease because of its subtle symptoms and people not reaching awareness where needed. Sexually transmitted diseases are prevalent and common in college, especially in the south, but it is not talked about as much as a problem as it was in high school even as it becomes more of a problem.

            “I believe HIV is less talked about because it is not thought of as a death sentence anymore,” said Takilya Davis of the University Student Health Center.

            “Individual's are not as afraid of the virus so they continue to participate in high risk behaviors,” said Davis.

            Ole Miss is not taking the steps necessary to get the word out for people to get tested and also ways to prevent it. People who rank HIV as a major health problem have declined drastically over the past decade, and Ole Miss seems to be going along with this statistic, as there are not any support groups on campus or awareness programs that specifically cater to people going through prevention of HIV/AIDS. Understanding of this deadly disease is taken lightly when it should outshine other problems that are consistently brought up on campus like alcohol abuse.

            “I have not heard about any kind of HIV/AIDS awareness or prevention since high school,” said Meaghan Dice a sophomore at Ole Miss.

            People infected with the disease may not be aware of it until many years later when prevention of HIV developing into AIDS could have stopped future infection.

            College students do continue to participate in such risky behaviors as Mississippi continues to be the state with the 7^th highest rate for HIV infections. Students are complacent about the situation and are becoming less aware of what a major issue it is in the United States because it is not only a disease in Africa and other countries. More than 1 million people in American are now living with HIV.

Population at the greatest risk for the disease is the south because of inability of access to prevention programs and poverty.  Ole Miss students are from many different states, but the majority of students reside in the south.  This affects the Ole Miss student body because people infected with HIV might not even know it, so ways to prevent it and getting tested would be helpful.

“Southern states suffer from a host of health issues, including HIV, for reasons that extend from poverty to a lack of education and fragile families,” said Harold Henderson, an HIV expert at the University of Mississippi, in a 2011 USA Today article.

 “Many children in the South lack sufficient sex education,” Henderson added.

There are many new prevention practices in the United States that are not fully put into practice as much as they are meant to be. With a stronger response to the HIV epidemic, significant reductions in the infection are possible. When prevention is possible continuing to be complacent can cost us our own lives or even the lives of our close friends.