#147
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 14:53:49 -0600
From: Kathleen Welshimer <welshime@SIU.EDU>
Subject: Websites for teens
** Award winning program in Wellness Mgt and Gerontology
** offers GA Stipend of $8000+ tuition waiver.
** Contact Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology,
** Ball State University; call 1-888-WELL-BSU
** Web Page: http://www.bsu.edu/wellness (2/1)
Fellow Hedirs,
Any recommendations re: good interactive websites or public domain health
ed CDRoms for preteens? We're working on a new program for kids. This
population is still an enigma to me, and I'm looking for insights into what
grabs them!
Thanks for your advice.
Kathleen
Kathleen J. Welshimer, PhD, MSPH
Department of Health Education and Recreation
Mail Code 4632
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Carbondale, IL 62901
Phone: 618-453-2777
Fax: 618-453-1829
E-mail: welshime@siu.edu
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#148
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 17:47:16 -0800
From: William Cissell <wcissell@VENUS.TWU.EDU>
Subject: HEDIR and Health Education are not activist organizations
** Award winning program in Wellness Mgt and Gerontology
** offers GA Stipend of $8000+ tuition waiver.
** Contact Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology,
** Ball State University; call 1-888-WELL-BSU
** Web Page: http://www.bsu.edu/wellness (2/1)
Mark and Others Eager to Oppose Extremist Right Wing Organizations:
You are right that extremist right wing organizations do not fight
fair and that they have unfairly represented health education, sex
education, and many other things that many of us value. Activitist
groups with opposing views need to be knowledgeable, skillful, and well
resourced to counteract them or gain an advantage on them. However,
none of the professional health education organizations to which I
belong has as its mission to be an activist organization. It is my
perception that neither Mark Kittleson nor the overwhelming majority of
HEDIR subscribers have a desire to make HEDIR-L an activist list
service.
Many HEDIR subscribers probably fit into the category Walt Hanks
described--government employees. This includes you, me, David Wiley,
and many other university faculty members. There are limits to the
amount of our time and and restrictions on the use of tax generated
resources that we use in our work where activism is concerned.
We can, as individual citizens, donate money to the American Civil
Liberties Union, SIECUS, People of the American Way, and other
activistic organizations.
We can attend school board meetings, join coalitions, and volunteer for
MADD, SADD, or any other group promoting an activistic agenda on our own
time. Within our professional health education organizations, due to a
need to protect their 501 c 3 status, we can serve on advocacy
committees and participate in advocay events. I have, throughout my
entire career, done all of these, and I am still doing several of them.
I believe that, while you do not see us behaving in concert as a unified
bunch of activists, we are all doing substantial work to counter
extremist activity. Some of us are fighting extreme conservatives.
Others are fighting extreme liberals.
You say that we have been getting our butts kicked. Sure in some
cases we get our butts kicked. But in other cases, our side wins some
major battles. I have helped win one or two. Tennessee did not update
its health education curriculum guide between 1952 and 1982, because the
1952 edition introduced sex education as one of its subjects. In
1980-82, I was on the curriculum committee, which was chaired by
Professor Bob Kirk of the University of Tennessee, that got the 1982
edition published and distributed. We had a section on sex education in
it.
In 1983 or 1984, right wing conservatives tried to block
implementation of a middle school curriculum in sex education and get
removed a secondary sex education program in Johnson City, Tennessee.
They used deceit and attempted to orchestrate school board meetings to
achieve their goal. The superintendent of schools, the director of the
Washington County Health Department, Mary Michal (as Chair of the Upper
East Tennessee March of Dimes Board and an expert pediatrician and
faculty member of the Quillen-Dishner College of Medicine), myself (a
committee chair for the March of Dimes and an expert college professor
of health education), and many parents who wanted sex education taught
in the schools defeated these efforts. I believe many subscribers of
HEDIR-L can report similar wins.
One of the biggest wins health education has had is in its growth as
a profession and growth in the volume of health educators working in
influential agencies and organizations. We have seen a growth in the
numbers of health educators working in federal agencies, particularly
CDC, over the past 30 years. Of course, people your age, Mark, and
younger may not remember how few health educators worked for CDC in 1973
and before. The creation and staffing of the Bureau of Health Education
in 1974 & 1975 started the pattern of increasing employment
opportunities for health educators in CDC. The creation and staffing of
the Office of Health Information and Promotion in 1977 & 1978 added to
this trend in DHHS.
In the private sector, the creation and staffing of the National
Center for Health Education, a 1973 recommendation of the President's
Committee on Health Education appointed by President Richard Nixon,
added to public awareness of health education as a professional
discipline. You may have noticed that the current and immediate past
directors of the Center are professional health educators--John
Allegrante and Clarence Pearson. By the way, I have been negligent in
not expressing congratulations to John on his recent appointment.
Congratulations, John! Government agencies and the Center cannot serve
in activistic ways, but they provide services that convince people from
much of the liberal to conservative spectrum that health education is
legitimate in its various manifestations. This helps demonstrate the
soundness of our professional knowledge, skills, and practices.
Mark, I do not mind having you occasionally post an alert about the
evil activities of the extreme right wing conservatives. An occasional
alert helps those who oppose these activites that may have become
complacent to renew their vigilence. When you post such a message, you
can expect those subscribers among us who are guarding against the left
wing extremists to post a heated reaction. My point is that you should
narrow your focus when responding to your critics and preach to those
few who are criticizing you, rather than to the choir of those who
support your efforts. Sometimes it seems that you are yelling at all of
us, because we have not rallied to convert HEDIR-L and our health
education professional organizations to anti-right wing extremist
activistic groups.
Don Ardell's suggestion that we use the strategies suggested by
Harry Browne is a good one. I hate to give credit to that wild eyed
libertarian, Don Ardell, but he does say a few things that make lots of
sense.
As I said previously, Mark, I love you and admire your energy and
courage. I believe that a large majority of subscribers to HEDIR-L do,
as well. May your semester be successful! May you enjoy good health
and personal happiness.
Bill
--
William B. Cissell, PhD, MSPH, CHES
Professor and Director, Statewide
Coordinated Statement of Need Project (SCSN)
Texas Woman’s University
Department of Health Studies
P.O. Box 425499
Denton, Texas 76204-5499
940-898-2861; Fax: 940-898-2859; email: wcissell@twu.edu
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