Oceana High School
Oceana High School, where I am a health and mathematics teacher, is a small school, less than seven hundred students, in a small district of five high schools, including one continuation school. As the name implies, we have views of the ocean that realtors drool over. We are just south of San Francisco, CA. The school is up on a hill overlooking the Pacific coast. Our population of students is very diverse. We have approximately 45% Filipino, 35% Caucasian, 10% Latino, 5% African American and the remaining 5% is a mix of Pacific Islander, Asian, Native American and others. About 50% of our students are on free or reduced lunch. There is a culture of racial mixing at the school and it is rare to see students segregate themselves by race. There is an acceptance of diversity due to the make up of the population, the work by the teachers, and the proximity to San Francisco. We have a humanities emphasis and all students must take four years of humanities to graduate.
One of the California health standards for high school is to "describe the use and abuse of prescription and non-prescription medicines…." This unit will address that standard and others as students learn about the use of medications for viral and bacterial infections. They will be able to understand why antibiotics are not useful against viruses. They will be able to differentiate between bacteria and viruses as a function of size and biological function. They will also become aware of the challenge of studying viruses and of treating viral disease. The very simplicity of the viral structure impedes medical progress in treatment.
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