Students shunning animal dissection ritual

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http://www.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/10/02/dissection.dissent.ap/index.h

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(AP) -- Increasing numbers of students are asking to opt out of the

science class ritual of dissecting frogs or fetal pigs, branding the

practice cruel and insisting they can learn as much from computer

simulations.

 

A 16-year-old honor student in Baltimore was removed from her

anatomy class last week after refusing to dissect a cat, then

allowed back in -- with the option of computer alternatives -- after

protesters picketed the high school.

 

In Las Vegas, the Clark County School Board voted earlier this year

to let students opt out of dissections if they have parental

support.

 

" They won't learn much with their eyes closed because they're

disgusted. "

-- Amy Richards, student opposing dissection

 

 

The new policy was adopted after a petition drive led by eighth-

grader Laurie Wolff, an A student who received a C in a science

class two years earlier after declining to cut up an earthworm.

 

Anti-dissection students also appealed for policy changes this year

at a school board meeting in Little Chute, Wisconsin, and last year

before a state Senate committee in Vermont.

 

Little Chute student Amy Richards gave a practical reason for

accommodating the dissenters. " They won't learn much with their eyes

closed because they're disgusted, " she said.

 

Virtual dissection

A student delegation from Woodstock Union High School in Vermont

helped get a bill introduced to allow students to use computer

models instead of participating in dissections. The bill died in the

Senate Education Committee.

 

 

STATES OFFERING DISSECTION ALTERNATIVE

California

Florida

Illinois

Louisiana

Maine

New York

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

 

Source: Humane Society of the United States

 

 

National teachers groups maintain that dissections are a better

learning tool than simulations, but recommend that instructors be

sensitive to student qualms.

 

According to the Humane Society of the United States, eight states

have approved opt-out policies -- California, Florida, Illinois,

Louisiana, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. A similar

policy is pending in New Jersey's legislature.

 

The Baltimore case illustrates how quickly a teacher's classroom

decision can become the focus of ideological controversy.

 

On September 23, Jennifer Watson was taken out of her Kenwood High

School honors anatomy class and placed in a general science class

after she asked for an alternative to cat dissection. The next

evening, Humane Society officials attended a school board meeting,

requesting that dissection alternatives be provided districtwide.

 

The following day about 20 protesters picketed outside Kenwood High,

and school officials announced Jennifer would be allowed back in her

class. She will perform computer-simulated dissections, perhaps

joined by some other students, while the rest of the class dissects

cats.

 

" I've loved animals my whole life, " said Jennifer, whose family has

several cats. " I was standing up for what I believe in. "

 

Emotion vs. intellect

The Humane Society estimates that 6 million animals -- mostly frogs,

fetal pigs and cats -- are dissected annually in American schools.

The society distributes anti-dissection videos and loans computer

software to schools interested in offering alternatives.

 

" Students and teachers come to us on a regular basis saying, 'I

don't want to do this any more, " ' said Lesley King, the Humane

Society's director for education and animal welfare.

 

She said school districts can save money by purchasing reusable

dissection software rather than buying dead animals that can only be

dissected once.

 

The 9,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers is wary of

the push for alternatives. Although it urges teachers to be

sensitive to students' objections, its formal position says, " No

alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissection. "

 

Wayne Carley, the association's executive director, said many who

oppose dissection " act on emotion rather than intellect. "

 

" This is an issue of academic freedom, " he said. " A well-trained

teacher has the knowledge and experience to know how best to use

dissection. "

 

The National Science Teachers Association, which claims 53,000

members, also defends dissection but advises teachers to be

flexible.

 

" There were few suitable alternatives when I taught, but now there

are some extremely sophisticated virtual technologies, " said Wendell

Mohling, a former biology teacher in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, who is

associate executive director of the science teachers group.

 

The pressure to cut back on dissections is even being felt in

college and graduate programs. King says the Humane Society accepts

the need for dissections in veterinary education, but urges schools

to use only animals that have been euthanized because of illness or

old age.