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Free Stuff Friday: "I'd Rather Go Bare Than Wear Hare" Tees
Posted February 27, 2009 by Marta Holmberg
For those of you who've been familiar with peta2 for a while, you likely remember our Star Street Teamer awards. Well, we're bringing the award back with 17-year-old Kayla Gaspard from Oakdale, California (that's Kayla to the right modeling her tee with her bunny Boo Boo). Why Kayla? Not only is she selling her own "I'd rather go bare than wear hare" tee design on Cafepress, she's also using 100% of the profits from the sales to purchase dissection alternatives for her school district. Awesome, right? Check out what Kayla has to say in my Q&A with her below, then see how you can win a tee of your own (though, of course, please be sure to support Kayla's efforts here).
Tell me about your project.
By selling shirts and other items offered by CafePress with graphic artwork I designed myself, I am raising money to purchase alternative dissection software for all the science departments in my school district. 100% of the profits made from the sales of the items will go directly towards purchasing the software programs. After struggling to find alternative lab resources for myself to morally abstain from the feline dissection in my anatomy class, I decided to leave the school district with the resources that they needed to provide future students wishing to use humane alternatives all the materials they would need. I am also applying for the DOSOMETHING awards and using my fundraiser as the project to apply for the award.
You found a great way to combine two issues that are important to you—fur and dissection. Why are you so passionate about these two issues?
I have always loved animals of every kind. Three years ago, I adopted a Netherland Dwarf bunny from a family whose children were no longer interested in keeping him. He is the sweetest, cuddliest little ball of fluff and completely docile. It sickens me to think that anyone would want to torture and kill an animal for fur or for scientific purposes. I am planning on attending college in the fall of this year and will be pursuing a PHD in genetics and cell biology. I could not walk across the stage on High School graduation day and accept a diploma that I would have earned by cutting up an innocent kitty. I would never be able to look at that milestone with any sense of pride if I did not defend and stand up for my convictions.
Do you have a favorite vegetarian dish?
Wow, where do I start! I love food! My favorite vegetarian dish is a Thai dessert called Kow Neuw Mamuang, or in English, Mango with sticky rice. It sounds plain, but the jasmine rice is soaked in coconut milk and is the perfect end to any meal. My favorite veg dinner is the "chick'n" nuggets recipe in the vegetarian starter kit. YUM! I make a vegetarian buffalo wing sauce to go with it and recommend them to any new vegetarians who may be struggling to find filling meal choices that don't include animals.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I like to play with my bunny Boo Boo, draw, paint, and play guitar. I also love to snowboard in the winter and wakeboard in the summer time. I especially loved stumbling upon a peta2 Street Team member that approached me at the Van's Warped Tour in San Francisco in 2008 who asked me if I would like to help end the torture of pigs in slaughterhouses and of course I said I would! I am proud to see PETA at those type of events and hope to get to be involved with organizing and working at booths while I am in college.
What is your advice to other students like you who don't want to dissect, but don't know what to do?
Just do what I did, get educated on the topic. I went to the internet and came straight to PETA. I posted my dilemma on a message board and immediately got replies with great information. PETA provided links to websites, as well as respectful responses to objections from reluctant teachers. I recommend being honest and respectful when requesting an alternative. Not all states treat students' rights equally. I am lucky to live in a state that requires teachers to respect my moral objections. The biggest obstacle I faced with my teacher was earning her respect, because so many students during her 20 years of teaching had abused the right to morally abstain from the labs because they were lazy, not because they were against animal dissection.
Well said, Kayla!
For your chance to win one of three "I'd rather go bare than wear hare" tees, comment below with why you think every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to students. Entries must be received by March 13th. The three most persuasive comments will be chosen and winners will be notified by March 20th.
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Good luck!
- Comments (185)
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2612 days ago
Not too long ago my school was disecting crayfish, and to most people that was ok. But for me, I hated it. The first day I complained that I couldn't do it and my teacher told me I had to do it or I'd fail the course. Not only did I think that was wrong, but there was no real reason to disect the thing in the first place. There are tons of programs online and offline that would give you the same result without having to kill animals. My teacher even picked on me and said that he would make us disect baby pigs too, but he was serious.
As the time came again to go to lab and disect this crayfish I found out I had to work alone which meant pulling things off its body and cutting open its abdomen. I walked to my teachers desk and said,"I really can't do this.." and he just looked at me and said,"Well, why not?" all grumpy and irritated. I started to tear up and said nevermind and walked to my seat and stared at the poor crayfish on the disecting pan. "Can you just look at it to lable the parts?" he said quietly, I nodded.
The thing about all this that upset me the most is that it took someone to cry for the teacher to realize that not everyone is ok with this form of learning. No one should have to do something if they are morally against it, no one NEEDS to do it there are so many alternatives out there. I would have gladly failed the course if it meant not poking around a dead crayfish, I find that sad and disrespectful.
The life of animals should not be of little value and importance!
2618 days ago
YEAH!! i always leave my classroom when ever we have a dissection lab. my teacher always finds an alternative thing for me to do 🙂 i am really thankful for her. 🙂
2618 days ago
Wow. That's really cool. I don't think I could ever dissect. And, some day I hope to do something quite like this to help animals. Great Job, Kayla. :]
2619 days ago
I've always wanted to pursue a career in pharmacy, but then I found out you have to dissect, so I basically had to abandon that idea. I don't understand why someone can't learn the same amount of info from technology that doesn't harm animals instead or tourturing them. Also, in high school I've had to say I was Buddhist who didn't believe in harming animals, although I don't really believe in organized religion. But I did it for the animals.
Alternatives need to be given and people should be able to make a decision about their education.
2626 days ago
In 7th grade I had to dissect a chicken wing. It was so . I didn't do it. When i walked into the classroom the teacher told us to find a partner to dissect with and when people asked me I said no and walked out of the calss. So what if I got an F. I would rather save a life than get an A that would just dissapear in my file forever.
2629 days ago
I have 6 bunnies and 2 of then are the same as yours!=] It makes me oober happy to see that you have a love for your animals like i do. I live out in the middle of the woods and have a lot of animals. each of them are special to em in their won way. We recently had a baby goat live in our bathroom because ti almost froze to death!
I am VERY proud of you and what you are ding to stop the dissecting of innocent animals. When the time comes for me to do dissecting I'll be sure to think of you and what you would do. Maybe slap a few PETA stickers on my work when the teacher hands us the paper explaining the assignment.
Keep doing what your doing, you are truly a inspiration!
Maygin =]
2630 days ago
It is great to see what you have done. Reading your story I see that I can too make a difference. Wow you are really great and deserve this award.
2632 days ago
I think every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to students because some students may be opposed to further harming animals and it is not right to kill innocent animals just so students can dissect them. They can learn about the insides of an animal from a textbook. Also, there should be dissection alternatives available to students because some of them may be allergic to animals or may find the smell to be too overwhelming and the smell could make them sick.
2633 days ago
Dear Kayla,
I am so happy that someone out there is making a difference in the lives of animals!!! i am only an eighth grader at a middle school, and as you know i will be heading to the high school next year. All my teachers have started talking about what is going to happen in the high school and what we'll be learning. My science teacher said that we might even be dissecting. Right as she said that, I got a chill down my spine and i felt like teaching her a lesson. But i had to remember that you need to be respectful when tryingt to teach people that dissecting is wrong. I explained to my friends why it's not cool to dissect and why it's inhumane. Some kids in my class thought that as a good ending experiment this year, we should dissect some frogs. With the facts that I gave them, my friends and I stood up to our teacher and fellow classmates by saying how it was totally wrong to dissect and there were so many other great alternatives. So, i think my teacher got the message, since we were respectful to her and did not yell or act mean. I'm pretty sure that no one in our school will be dissecting animals this year in my eighth grade science classroom.(: Dissecting is wrong. If there are alternatives, why not use them? Frogs and cats and bunnies and all the other innocent animals that have to go through the pain of being dissected don't deserve it, and people need to start to realize that. I always tell people to check out peta2.com to get the facts straight. Hopefully, in the future, dissection will be cut out for good and we will only use alternative programs which are still just as useful and just as knowledgable. thanks! ~Marlena(:
2633 days ago
I believe every classroom should have alternatives because we should not be encouraged to kill, just the opposite! I think it helps to show that there are always alternatives to murdering and torturing animals and that we should treat our fellow earth beings with respect…
2634 days ago
Dissecting animals is a very cruel thing to do. i think the schools should replace it with alternatives such as reading about it or something to that nature. This dissecting of animals have been going on for much too long.
2634 days ago
I think that what Kayla is doing is just amazing. I am a sophmore, and am currently taking Biology. We start dissecting in about two weeks, and as a Vegetarian I really do not want to. I need good grades, but I think my beliefs are more important. And i will protest for my rights, and animals rights. No one should be forced to do something they want, and dissecting is wrong. It is inhumane, and should not be mandatory. I would rather fail the course then not stand up for animals rights, and my beliefs.
Go Veg!
2634 days ago
Use a virtual classroom.
2634 days ago
There is no reason to murder an animal just to see something that we know is there. Classrooms teach cruelty my forcing students to dissect live animals.
2635 days ago
So many people have already disected animals that we are very aware of there internal organs and bones and other things students study during disection. When your in med school studying to become a surgon they do not kill random innocent or homeless people for that matter just to study. (MOST ANIMALS USED DURING DISECTION ARE FROM SHELTERS AND DO NOT HAVE A HOME OT FAMILY,THAT WOULD BE THE SAME AS KILLING PEOPLE IN HOMELESS SHELTERS JUST TO STUDY THEM)I remember in one of my science books towards the back they had these see through plastic diagrams of both human and frogs bodys it had different layers of each and in the different layers the muscle,organs,bones,tissue and such were shown. They were also interactive so you could use dry erase markers and draw on them. That is a very good alternative. Also if schools are willing to offer alteratives then that just shows it is not necsary tto even disect the animals in the first place. To be honest if schools stuck to the alternatives they would save alot of money that could be used else where in the school. It cost more money to buy the Dead animals and have them shipped and ready to cut open with all the tools than it would to just show pictures and have students study that way. Another point is when you take the class anatomey which teaches you about the human body why is it that the schoool doesnt feel the need to cut open a dead human body? When studying the human body disecting a frog or cat (our school uses cats) is not going to help anybody to learn more about the human body. Yes humans have some homolgous structres but you dont have to cut open animals to learn about that.
Alternatives are the only way to go!
"Many have proposed substituting the use of computer simulations, realistic models, multimedia presentations, anatomical overlays, and butcher shop "parts" in place of conventional dissection. More creative alternatives include the use of marine "specimens" from the supermarket (Colby, et. al, 1995), use of PlayDoh(TM) to study brain anatomy (Wilson & Marcus, 1992), and use of interactive videodisc simulations (Strauss & Kinzie, 1991). The rapidly expanding resources of the World Wide Web also include many new resources on the Internet (please see the list of related home pages at the end of this Digest). Anzovin (1993) made the point that many alternatives to dissection are cleaner and cheaper than dissection, allow students to learn at their own pace, and reduce safety considerations. "
Wilson, C., & Marcus, D.K. (1992). Teaching anatomy of the sheep brain: A laboratory exercise with PlayDoh(TM). Teaching of Psychology, 19(4), 223-225.
2635 days ago
i just wanna say what your doing for your community is amazing, inspirational.
to me, i believe that every school should have alternatives for students who do not wish to dissect animals. schools teach us about having our rights and that we have responsiblity, but yet their making us dissect animals! its hypocritical to me! every student has a choice on how they want to learn and if they dont want to cut up an animal, they shouldnt have to!
school boards need to realize that dissecting animals is wrong, and to make a kid who has differnt beliefs on it, is wrong! we have the alternatives so why dont they put it in the schools?
hopefully by more people speaking out on this topic, all the schools will ban dissecting for good
2637 days ago
Firstly I'd like to say that this is really awesome!! These shirts look like an amazing idea!
Ok, so..
I think that EVERY Science classroom should have alternatives available to their students because it is time that EVERYONE started realizing that killing animals is wrong ESPECIALLY for such unneccessary reasons when there are ALTERNATIVES!!
I believe that ALL students should have a choice on how they learn, and it shouldn't have to involve cutting up dead animals!
Nobody else has to do things against their beliefs for school, so why should animal rights activists… or simply anyone else who knows that it is wrong?
Firstly I'd like to say that this is really awesome!! These shirts look like an amazing idea!
Ok, so..
I think that EVERY Science classroom should have alternatives available to their students because it is time that EVERYONE started realizing that killing animals is wrong ESPECIALLY for such unneccessary reasons when there are ALTERNATIVES!!
I believe that ALL students should have a choice on how they learn, and it shouldn't have to involve cutting up dead animals!
Nobody else has to do things against their beliefs for school, so why should animal rights activists… or simply anyone else who knows that it is wrong?
<3 Beccah Melecka
2637 days ago
First of all, Biology is the study of life. For me, the study of topics like Biology and Anatomy are fascinating. I think its amazing how all these little pieces fit together and work how they're suppose to and maintain life. But thats the key, to maintain life. I want to learn how my body (and my furry friend's!) works, to help better maintain life. So that being said it makes no sense for me to kill, (or boost the supply and demand to kill) a living creature to study life.
There are so many other options. You don't need to kill to learn.
2638 days ago
School is supposed to teach us to be responsible, productive citizens of the world. Dissection is harmful to animals, students, and the environment. It is socially and environmentally irresponsible, and it is a health hazard.
Using alternatives to dissection sets a great example to students of how it is possible to be a conscientious citizen without sacrificing education.
2638 days ago
dissections have been around forever – I say use cadavers instead.
2639 days ago
I am a 12 year old girl in the 7th grade. My science class recently did a frog dissection. I politely told my teacher that I would not do the dissection, and not only did I make the highest grade in my class, but I saved a frog. In place of the real dissection, I used a computer program that we were so fourtunate to have "lying around". I, of course, was the only one to use a computer program, for I am one out of the two vegetarians in my school. This sort of thing goes completely against my morals and I would feel as ashamed of myself as I do the other students for using this cruel, and unessecary method for learning's sake. I suggest that everyone use this computer program. I am now able to label every part of the frog, and I am extremely proud of myself. I do fear, though, the upcoming dissections in high school. I'm afraid that I might be required to take an F for not completing this lab. Don't let that fool you, though. I will not let it bring me down, considering I'm a straight A student, and I will do something about it. I hope to change the scary, and cruel methods of dissection in my school district. Thinking about how many innocent animals were born and raised, or captured, for dissection (or any other type of use) makes me feel defeated, though I know it's not my fault. It also makes me think about how many other people are feeling the same way I do. It's not a good feeling.
Stop dissection.
2641 days ago
I believe that disection should be stopped because killing for the only reason of science is just down right unholy. Even if people eat meat, i dont think they realize what the animals go through. In biology we had to disect a baby pig fetis. my teacher made the excuse that the animals died at birth but some where so big u could tell it wasnt natural. And i honestly didnt learn a thing from it. it would be just as helpful to have a virtual dissection on the computer.
2641 days ago
cute bunny .
2641 days ago
i'm in biology as one of my classes for school right now and sadly dissection is one of the main things for learning stuff. as much as i love learning about our bodies and want to go into a medical field myself, i don't want to do it at the expense of another mammal. i'm the only vegetarian in my class and the fact that i could fail or get a no mark just because i have a different belief is wrong to me. what happened to living in a free country? i believe that nowadays people make video games that are so detailed and fun to do that doing a dissection on the computer can't be as bad either. you still learn the same things, just not actually touching and forcing animals somewhere to give up their life just for science. all schools should have a dissection alternative because just like some people like dissection, others don't and would rather not, but the fact that you lose your grade can change people's opinions. its not fair to say, you do something against you beliefs or you fail.
i don't believe that schools will personally ban dissection, because some schools believe they get their animals for humane places or places where the animal died naturally, but every school should at least offer a dissection alternative. we are at the time of age where we are so technologically advanced that i think people would actually buy a dissection game if they were serious about entering medical fields. over the years we have tested and destroyed animals so much that the least we can offer is a dissection alternative. money has become the center of the world to most places, so why not use a little bit of money for a good cause? people always raise money for disease causes, so why can't we for dissection rights? a cause doesn't have to be based souly on humans to be considered a "good" a cause, so be different and fight for a dissection alternative.
we have fought for our freedom as mankind, so fight for animals who can't voice or fight for theirs.
2641 days ago
I find it absolutely ridiculous how dissection is still happening regularly in high schools. The piglets used aren't just a side effect from random pregnant sows at slaughterhouses – these sows were purposefully inseminated against their will so that when they are killed, the slaughterhouse will also have pig fetuses to sell. And with other animals used in dissection/experiments such as cats and dogs, it is common practice to buy them in bulk from run-down shelters or just steal them off the street. These animals are then transported in very crowded conditions with no supplies (after all, why feed and water them if they are just going to be murdered anyways?) before being embalmed. By "embalmed" I mean being injected with formadelhyde often while still alive. Formadelhyde is a carcinogenic and it is very hard to dispose of properly. These industries that use it are contributing to massive environmental damage. And at the end of it all, aren't these biology classes supposed to be teaching kids to respect nature and to see how SIMILAR we are to these animals? Instead, it teaches that animals are objects for us to mutilate and that it is ok to use all these resources for something so silly while the planet wastes away. The computer programs are such a great alternative because they provide a realistic look inside these wonderful animals without causing any harm to them, to us and to the environment.
2641 days ago
i think dissection is just horrible. back in 7th grade i was froce to dissect a frog just because "the school board said it was important" that was incredibly ridiculous. Why cant all schools just use virtual dissection. you learn just as much without hurting a animal or your morals.
2642 days ago
The other day, the anatomy & physiology kids were dissecting cats. One of the cats was pregnant. They claim that all the animals died of natural causes, but for that cat to die with all those babies in that condition? I don't think so. They are killing cats for something that is already drawn out that a person could study from. If the students find dead cats on the side of the road ( 🙁 ) then by all means they should go ahead and look at the guts and whatnot. But to kill an innocent cat just so you can get a grade that won't matter in a few weeks? I don't think so. There should be no dissection.
-P.S. I also ran around school screaming "CUT CLASS! NOT CATS!" 😀
2642 days ago
Dissection is a disgusting and outdated alternative to an education! how can people learn about life by death and killing! It's wrong. There shouldn't need to be alternatives to students for dissection because dissection should just be made illegal to began with. It is legal animal abuse.
2642 days ago
Some of my friends and I are currently trying to get signatures so we can try to get an alternative in our school so we won't have to dissect. In our school they choose to disect worms, frogs, cats, and even rats. I think it's pretty wrong and general and we shouldn't do that. I'm sure they wouldn't like it if they were born just to be killed and dissected later. Not only is dissecting disturbing, but I think it is teaching kids the wrong lesson. I know one of my cousins friends who dissected a cat in his one science class and then a week later he tried doing it to his own cat. Seriously, how messed up is that? I think if we try to cut out dissection school by school, it will spread to other districts, then to other states, then finally to other countries. I just hope the world is ready for what we have to offer.
2643 days ago
I believe it is wrong to teach animal cruelty by useing real animals for dissection. In these days of advanced technology students should not be made to put their ethics or morals on the line.I believe if we start a new way of teaching without the real animal dissections, then students will learn a whole new way. I think the virtual computer dissection programs are a great alternative for one. If I would win one of the T-shirts, I would feel proud to support the cause and all the hard work the young lady has put into this job.
2643 days ago
I think that students should reserve the right to choose whether to disect or not because in my mind, it is a personal offense. Those who don't eat meat, or don't agree with the dissecting idea, are forced to disect in order to "maintain their grade." Parents and teachers always strive to teach us to "stand up for what we believe in", bu really, that is all just an act that they put on for themselves to look better. If they REALLY believed that, they wouldn't make us do certain things like this. Of course we all want to maintain good grades, but i think that there should be an alternative assignment that we could do instead of cutting open an innocent creature. Although it does let us "explore the body", it also shows us how cruel humans are. After watching the PETA videos, "Cut Class Not Frogs", i have come to realize that i am ashamed to be called a human sometimes. The heartless, ruthless, stomach whirling things people do these days leave me without words. Especially with dissection. I am just one person, but i believe that i, and everyone else, has a voice much bigger than our size. if we all stick together and deny the dissection "project", then i believe that one day, dissection will not be allowed. What did these animals ever do to ANY of us?! Exactly, nothing. And for those people to sit there, scalpol in hand, is terrifying and heartrbreaking. And about the fur thing..HORRID. This is probably way worse than anything. How would you like to be skinned alive just to keep someone else warm? I wouldn't like it one bit. I think of it like this, woul i remove my dog's fur during the winter and wear it as a fashion statement? Definitely not. This is my opinion for this certain subject. And I'm not posting this comment to win something or anything. I'm posting it because i totally agree with it, and i think my input should count. I Love You, PETA!(:
2643 days ago
Why do I think all science rooms should have alternatives to dissection?
Because no kid should have to worry about failing a project because they don't want to participate in harming animals. Because using animals for dissection isn't an effective way to learn about the human body. Because there ARE alternatives. Because it's wrong.
2643 days ago
While some people look to use animals for food, entertainment, clothing, testing, and scientific pratices; others look to prevent such. If you are a lover, you should be given the opportuinity to make a stance against animal cruely for scientific purposes. We are not all instinctive killers, using anything "inferior" for our own benefit. The science programs in school have to be sensitive to the fact that some people have a heart, and would do anything not to tear one out of a poor defenseless soul.
2643 days ago
disection is not green.
just like meat's not green.
instead of dissecting, I did a virtual animal anatomy study online, so there were no animals harmed.
people wouldn't want a bunch of kids poking around in their bodies when they were dead, disrespeting everything about the process with their naivety adn lack of self-control.
lack of care.
people wouldn't want to be thrown away in the garbage afer the class was done with them, done taking out their insides, breaking up all the bones, pulling the pieces apart.
pulling apart everything these animals ever were.
people wouldn't want these things, so what makes them think that they have the right to assume that the animals they are taking advantage of when they dissect wanted those things?
i could bet anything in the world the animals wouldn't want that.
why would anyone want that ???
dissection is far from green.
that kind of disrespect is as far from green as it gets.
2643 days ago
I know all too well the horrors of dissection labs. In high school it was fetal pigs, fish, and worms that were dissected… me being the only person in all of the bio classes to refuse..I got an F for a grade those days, but I also got to voice my opinion and explain to others who may be unknowing or misinformed about why dissection is wrong. I also got interviewed for my school newspaper regarding my stance, which reached the whole school =) Just say NO to dissection! There are so many alternatives! I really love the shirt because as a bunny owner, both adopted, I really feel for what they have to go through and I know how inquisitive and intelligent they actually are, they don't deserve that, nor does any living thing! I really want that shirt! I know all too well the horrors of dissection labs. In high school it was fetal pigs, fish, and worms that were dissected… me being the only person in all of the bio classes to refuse..I got an F for a grade those days, but I also got to voice my opinion and explain to others who may be unknowing or misinformed about why dissection is wrong. I also got interviewed for my school newspaper regarding my stance, which reached the whole school =) Just say NO to dissection! There are so many alternatives! I really love the shirt because as a bunny owner, both adopted, I really feel for what they have to go through and I know how inquisitive and intelligent they actually are, they don't deserve that, nor does any living thing! I really want that shirt! <3
Jessica Cain
2643 days ago
I know all too well the horrors of dissection labs. In high school it was fetal pigs, fish, and worms that were dissected… me being the only person in all of the bio classes to refuse..I got an F for a grade those days, but I also got to voice my opinion and explain to others who may be unknowing or misinformed about why dissection is wrong. I also got interviewed for my school newspaper regarding my stance, which reached the whole school =) Just say NO to dissection! There are so many alternatives!
Jessica Cain
2644 days ago
don't understand how we can be so insentive to animals and their lives
2644 days ago
Every science classroom should have alternatives because its wrong to buy these animals to dissect one. They are treated so badly and totured and they cant even do anything about it. One reason they should think about, is money. They should use the programs offered for computers etc. Using that would be a one time purchase and you wouldn't have to continually buy poor animals. Another thing, these programs are more advanced I am sure because our technology is still growing so its only getting better.
There is no need for these animals to go through what they do.
2644 days ago
Great shirt! Great cause!
2644 days ago
When I was asked to dissect in Biology, I was amazed by how many students were excited by the idea. I was the only person who refused to dissect. What bothered me the most was how prejudiced the whole practice was. If we had been asked to dissect a "cuter" animal, like a kitten, surely more than half the class wouldn't have participated.
Not only is it horrible that innocent animals used for dissection are being raised and slaughtered on farms, but wild animals are also being caught and killed. This has affected the populations of many species in a terrible way.
Something very disturbing about dissection is that it promotes violence more than learning. How can students learn about Biology, the study of life, by supporting death?
2644 days ago
Poor little bunnies. They have a tough life.
2644 days ago
There is simply no excuse for dissection in school. When I was 13 (14 years ago) I protested the frog dissection and persuaded my teacher by finding a website that walked you through the whole process, with out killing an animal. He gave me an A.
2644 days ago
I believe that High Schools and Middle Schools should have alternatives to dissection, as it can be fairly unnecessary because most people will not be traveling along the scientific career path. But I believe that if someone wanted to say be a Surgeon then they should be entirely allowed to dissect and to understand how bodies work, but that is College and Graduate school. Would anyone want to go under the knife of someone who had no experience working on people because they weren't allowed to have a dissection class?
I can safely say that my Biology teacher has been awesome to me, he is entirely understanding and if at anytime anyone in his class has a problem with dissecting then he allows you to sit in another room and to work on the alternative work instead. I come from a small poor school that has little funding and unfortunately we cannot afford many alternatives but what we have we use.
So all in all I believe that if it is affordable to the school to just replace dissection with alternatives that would be awesome for Middle and High School. But this should not travel on to the Collegiate and Graduate school level.
2644 days ago
Every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to all students who choose to not dissect. Dissection is cruel, and inhumane, so it should be perfectly acceptable for a student to refuse to cut open dead animals. But, education is still important, so a humane alternative should most definitely be offered to everyone.
Animals did not choose to be cut up, and no matter how hard some people try to trick themselves into thinking dissection is okay, it's not. Who can prove these animals had no lives, no family, no friends?
Right now, my next unit at school is going to involve a dissection. But, whether I am giving an alternative or not, there is no one that is going to force me to dissect. Between cutting up a poor dead animal, or failing a class I don't even care for, I will choose failing. This is another reason that alternatives should be given. I most definitely will not be happy failing the class though, and no student should even have to ever choose between failing and doing something that goes against their beliefs.
Bottom Line:
Dissection is cruel!
2644 days ago
i want to win
2645 days ago
There are always great alternatives to dissecting. Instead of killing a real animal. You could always go to this site I know about that has a virtual dissection. There is no reason to kill an animal just for a grade. It's cruel and not fair to the animal being killed. Even before I was vegan I didn't think it was right for the animals to be killed and I didn't participate in any of the dissections. I can't remember the site for virtual dissections but it has frogs, cats, dogs, cows, ect ect.
Basically all the normal animals used for class dissections.
2645 days ago
disection is just not necessary to teach anymore
2645 days ago
It's disgusting that our society has dissection still. My class has to dissect rats in a few weeks and I am NOT looking forward to it. Every 8th grade class has to do it. I've already talked to my teacher about it, but she won't give in. Our state doesn't require that the teacher respects my wishes not to dissect. With my science class, it's either dissect the rat or fail the grade. And it takes up about a third of our grade. 🙁
but yeah there are so many alternatives nowadays and it's stupid to say that it would cost too much money. The school pays for the rats, doesn't it? What's the difference paying for alternatives that are probably the same price but less cruel? HONESTLY…
2645 days ago
My school almost tried to discourage alternatives, by offering a really difficult and long paper instead. Then people did the dissections just to avoid the paper. Offer realistic alternatives!
2645 days ago
I politely refused to dissect any animals in my high school biology class (back in 1978) and luckily did not have any negative consequences. My teacher gave me 'other' work to satisfy the grade requirement. Many beliefs (regarding animals) that used to be considered normal are now seen as cruel and archaic. Dissection is one of those ideas that will eventually be considered barbaric and unnecessary.
2645 days ago
Making students dissect animals is disgusting, smelly, and immoral. At my school, very few people chose to do that, most opting for much better (and less gross!) ways of understanding biology.
2645 days ago
Things have got to change.I can't believe humanity has got to this point where educators are insensitive to the killing of innocent life.
2645 days ago
We were forced to disect frogs in 7th grade, and our teacher let us have no other alternatives to it. It was sickening, and most of us didnt have the stomachs for it. There should be alternatives because dissecting innocent animals is wrong. Also alot of people are against and its wrong to force them to do something they dont want to do. It was terrible, and many of us made our parnters do all the work because we couldn't handle doing it.
If there are alternatives, then they should be used, instead of forcing dissection upon stundents.
2645 days ago
Dissection is just plain stupid.If you want other students to see how an animal looks like then make a diagram for them.What most teachers fail to realize is that most of the animals they kill for their"benefit"have families who will miss them.Its not like animals are heartless creatures.
2645 days ago
By going vegetarian or vegan, people make the decision- because of their views, to help animals and not eat meat, preventing them from getting killed on behalf of them.
If vegetarians/vegans are forced to dissect animals, the animal is being killed on behalf of that person, which completely goes against their vow of being vegetarian.
Schools do not have the right to pressure or force anyone into doing this, people are told at times that they will fail the class or get no grade if the do not partake in the activity, this doesn't really give anyone a choice in what they're doing.
Animals cannot stick up for themselves, they have feelings too just like humans. Imagine having to dissect a human, doesn't seem too pretty now does it, not very humane either.
Laws state freedom of belief and will, if you do not want to dissect an animal, or believe that it is wrong being forced to do it is unfair and not right.
If teachers believe that it is 'For the benefit of the students,' then I'm sure it would be possible to just watch a video online showing how it's done, dissecting a certain animal only has to be done once, the information from it can be passed on or even recorded. If every child dissects an animal in a class of 20, that's already 20 animals taken off the world without their consent, now imagine every child in the world dissecting at least one animal.. It adds up to a large sum of animals dead- for what! , nothing i tell you.
I think animal dissection should be banned, or at least given at an optional thing to do. There should be alternatives to dissection in classrooms, animals need not suffer. Animal dissection is inhumane and cruel, it is also cruel to force vegans and vegetarians, who believe it is wrong, to go against their beliefs.
2645 days ago
a lot of people don't want to cut open a animal and check out its insides just for shits and giggles. its stupid. i'd rather write an 5 page essay about my science teacher than do that. the whole idea of dissection is stupid but some freaky ass kids like it but for the rational ones who dont, there better be an alternative assignment or im gonna throw a damn fit.
2645 days ago
I would be a light to all
when I wear this shirt.
I need a size Large
2645 days ago
Dissection isn't just immoral and cruel and unneccessary, it's completely idiotic. My school is cutting out our ENTIRE arts program because of budget cuts, when cutting out disection could save us TONS of money.
I went to my principal yesterday, and showed her the Cut Class Not Animals video, and she gave me a lecture on how doing it fake, would mean bad grades in college, because dissection "prepares you for Ap tests."
She said, looking at a real animal, is different than looking at a picure, where things are colorful and easy to label.
The online dissections dont have purple stomachs and hot pink intestines like out Biology text books do!!
even the examples on peta2.com and in the video I showed her it was a real frog, with real colors, ut without the mess and death.
By switching to virtual, we could save millions of lives and millions of dollars.
And, we don't even have to cut it out completely. If the future doctors in a class want to do a real dissection, they can, but for those of us with souls, we can have it our way.
It's fair.
Meat's not green, and neither is dissection.
2645 days ago
look at your amendment rights freedom of choice children should not be forced in this mutilization
2645 days ago
I think that every science class should have alternative dissection studies because:
1) some students aren't interested in what the disection is teaching them
2) some students don't want to hurt the animal that they would have to dissect
3) most students are probably not going into the career pathway that the dissection is apart of
4) some students don't have a strong enough stomach to even want to think about the animal being dissected
5) some students could do a better job at a report about the anatomy of the animal's body rather than cutting it into pieces
6) the school wouldn't have to buy as many animals for the dissection if there were an option to not dissect
7) some students would probably mess around with the animal's body and would probably throw organs at other students, wasting the body of the animal
8) not as many animals would have to die in the process for more people to dissect who probably don't want to anyway
9) it isn't fair to have someone not willing to dissect an animal because they don't morally believe in it
10) because not dissecting an animal is one of the best choices you can make for everything!
2645 days ago
well i think that every science classroom should have an alternative dissection method.
some kids may not feel very comfortable exploring an animal who was alive;
also, some kids are just grossed out, which is understandable.
but there are also those kids who really dont support killing to dissect which has a perfect reason.
killing innocent creatures just to look at them and 'explore' them shows kids that our world harms poor animals- this sets a bad example.
i mean you wouldnt want kids just going around killing snails for fun and to stare at them, you know?
so thats why i think that all science classrooms should have an alternative dissecting method.
2645 days ago
For 3 main reasons, I have my own belief as to why their should be dissection altenatives.
For one thing, in case you didnt notice, its just plain gross! I do not like killing or nor cutting up bodies, whether it be small animal or human. It is merely not right should not be tolerated, in my most humble opinion. Then there is scaredity of life with how it was given by God. God did not give us animals to cut open and study, he gave them as earthly companions. Should we not leave them in there natural environment? And lastly, I know that some of the dissected anmals were merely raised for being dissected for knowledge. As a human, would we like to live that life? Live for 25 years, just to be killed and studied? I would most certainly not. I think no matter what, there are always alternatives. Instead of dissecting, merely show pictures of past dissections or slide shows illustrating what is there. Or if worst comes to worst, then only have the teacher do it, in a spot where everyone can see, so that there only need be one dissection instead of 15. Cant we humans, be humane? Its in our name.
2645 days ago
Every class should have dissection alternatives because, not only is the industry of animal-peddling immoral and destructive, but students being allowed to exercise their beliefs without negative repercussions is one of the most fundamental rights of our society.
2645 days ago
Science classes should have alternatives just for the plain fact that not everyone will agree with dissection. For me personally we did one lab with cow liver and that was enough to make me want to barf. She just told us to not be babies and deal with the lab. I did not do one thing for the whole assignment and I knew that if I were to say I didn't want to do it that she would just tell me to get over it. Due to the fact I'm a senior and I cannot afford to fail I let my friends do it while I wrote a write up. I thought it was gross and cruel about how she just told us to get over it and she had no emotion toward the cows that were killed for the livers.
2645 days ago
Disection should be a choice, and preferably avoided, in schools because there are so many alternatives that are more ethical and may be cheaper in the long run for the school district because they don't have to buy all the animals over again every year. Unlike what Valerie said, if I had to either disect or fail the class, I would drop the class. But thankfully there are options at my school.
2646 days ago
What's the point of dissecting a corpse? Sure, we learn about what's under its skin, but it's all already been done. There are programs and books out there that show all of the same stuff, without being as disgusting as cruel as the hands on experience. People just need to think realistically about it. If I want to know what the inside of a human looks like, I'll take an anatomy course. I'm not gonna smuggle some poor unsuspecting child out of their house and cut them open, so why do it to animals? Senseless.
2646 days ago
every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to students because it's just NOT FAIR to the student's that the teachers qualify with this, when you can do other things, 'cause there's some of us who just can't do it, rather it'll be for religion, principles, or merely HUMANITY. And it's not fair, neither, for the animals.!!
Students MUST have a choice, or the educational system is not being equitable with all of us.
Btw, my dog's name's Boo Boo, too. ^^
2646 days ago
I've noticed firsthand that some people simply refuse to understand the correlation between death and dissection. And it;s hard to blame them, because a sessile body on a dissection tray doesn't allude much to a living creature.
But it's different when you find yourself in your first semester of university, asked to experiment on a living creature.
I am a scientific thinker.
I am a person of date and tables and beakers, but when one of my first assignments in my freshman biology class involved testing the biological limits of a white mouse in a bowl of ice and over a hot burner, I almost gave up on science altogether.
I felt like there was no one to help me stand up and say "NO!" I couldn't' fail the course and I couldn't get an alternate assignment.
I almost think that I was under more stress and pain that day than the poor animal that I measured and gauged like an object.
My mouse survived, and went back into a tub of it's brothers and sisters to be tortured another day. I went home and was immediately sick, guilty, and devastated.
Maybe the people who can't empathize with animals will be able to recognize the distress they cause caring students. I think about that day all the time, and I won't ever forget it. If the people who had controlled that situation had understood the damage they caused me, then maybe they would understand the harm they cause to the students themselves when they force them to view a living (or ONCE-living) creature as an experiment.
2646 days ago
I refuse to do the dissection project. You "say" the animals were going to die anyways.YOUR A LIER! The animals may have died anyways but by your purchasing these animals to MURDER! I know you say it is for "science" but we are learning nothing new the world doesn't know. There are many alternatives to dissection. The most popular is a "dissection" program where it simulates actual dissection. I know you are going to say "Well to make that program there had to be a dissected animal first". Well that may be true but that is ONE or TWO animals to make many copies of a program whereas here you are MURDERING hundreds of animals each year "for the sake of science". You should have these alternatives available for students not wishing to dissect. Or better yet don't dissect at all. I know you wouldn't do that but you CAN have an alternative to this terribly cruel and murderous act, or not knock off a grade because you are to stupid to learn. If you are into science why do you MAKE kids commit MURDER. If you want them to learn in the "sake of science" commit suicide and they can poke t your insides. I would like to see that your worthless murdering idiot!
2646 days ago
I believe its important to have dissection alternatives because it was an option that I did not have even though it went against my beliefs. In my advanced biology class in high school we did feline dissection, and although I opted to do a shark dissection because I refused the feline one, I still felt that it was wrong to dissect any creature. There were no other options available, and I was forced to dissect or fail the class which was required for me to graduate. No one should have to do something against their beliefs in order to graduate.
2646 days ago
Exactly. I wouldn't even 'dissect' an already dead fish that was frozen for two years.
It disgusted me, not just the smell, but the idea of it.
People should have their own choice for some many reasons.
1. It's wrong.
2. Some people are against dissection, the teachers/school need to think about that before setting up a dissection period in school.
3. The animals have feeling too, I'm pretty sure they weren't just already dead animals they found.
4. Animals should die naturally of old age or something, not from the hands of a human, or from a man made machinery.
I have never dissected anything. I won't. If a teacher ever told me I had to, I would walk right out of that school and refuse to go back until they make it so there is something else to do than dissect.
Scientists in the world have done their share on exploring bodies, we don't need to as well.
2646 days ago
First of all, i think that its pretty amazing, what this girl did. i'm glad she took a stand rather than stay silent. ^-^
i believe that every school should have an alternative to animal dissection. It is not right to force a student to do something that goes against their moral values. Not only do a lot of students not wish to cut up an innocent animal, but there are also the students that get nauseous around things like that.
There's really no reason for animal dissection anymore when there are such great, virtual alternatives! i think that schools should be more willing to utilize such advantages as that. (Besides, the preserves for the dead animals stink up the ENTIRE school sometimes!)
2646 days ago
everyone knows that using animals is a generalized good way to learn about how the body works. but schools should definetly offer a more human solution that will inevitably save them money. because plastic is reusable, while a bunny, or a frog isnt. even internet dissections would work. that way there is no pollution created from the mass production of the plastic parts. i would definetly like to see these horrible "learning methods" gotten rid of. most people would agree that it is better even for the squimish ones. so blood, no guts. it just makes more sense. this way the ones that opt out of the dissection because they are squimish or for they believe it is wrong like i do they can still get the knowledge that they would have learned from the dissection but without killing a defensless animal.
2646 days ago
Its about choices. If we can choose water over wine, why not this? Not only that, in a class room you respect others religious beliefs, why not out beliefs? I can understand having only 1 topic for a project, but this is more than any project. We have to open up, and look through a dead animal, witch is truly wrong. And failing a kid because the refuse to do this? I don't know if that should even be legal! This is one thing I KNOW we should have a choice in. Its a very important subject, we should learn it, but not have to do it our selves.
2646 days ago
Every classroom should have an alternative way of this barbaric way of biology. There is no need to kill a living animal. So much has changed since I was in high school. I remember I was the only person in my class who refused to disect any animal that year. They threated me by saying that they would fail me and make me stay behind a year, my mother was called to the school saying I was being a troublesome student and distrupting biology class by not doing my disecting assigment. It took her awhile but eventually I was excused from disecting any animals without failing the class.
2646 days ago
Dissecting is not only wrong and disgusting, it is SICK. I've only dissected one animal in my entire life and it was a fish. I had to hold back my tears and get 10 points taken off the project because I wouldn't participate.
When I have to dissect animals later in my high school career, I will always opt for the alternate project.
I own a rabbit, and if we have to dissect a rabbit (I don't think I have to anyway) but if we do, I will fight. I will not show up for the class. I can't imagine seeing a cute and cuddly bunny being cut up into little pieces. It makes me sick to think about it.
And even though a fish isn't the cutest animal out there, it is an animal. And animals have rights. And so do we. We have the right to say "NO!" And that is what I'm doing. I am putting my foot down and saying "NO!!!!!!" And I WILL make a difference.
2646 days ago
THe last time dissection was around was in my middle school class. I told my teacher I refused. She told me I had to. So my mother called saying I have the freedom to do what i want and if I stay in the classroom while this happens I'll probably faint anyways.haha
then in high school I never had to because my biology teacher was a vegetarian and shethought dissection was gross.
We have no need to do this to animals. Would we want people to do this to our bodies?
2646 days ago
I am in grade 10 and next year i have a big choice to make, go against what i believe in and take biology, or pretty much fail at chemistry or physics. Reading this and finding more about it i really hope i can make a difference at my school, by giving an alternative in biology other then dissecting something that never deserved to be in that place. Thank you so much for the inspiration and it would be great if i got picked for the prize!! Thank you!
2646 days ago
I think that sciences classes should just cut out dissection. We should respect animals not use them for dissection. Anyway, every student should always have the option to an alternative because the student should be respected because they respect animals and their lives so much. I am minoring in Biology and I will not dissect. My sister is going to be a veterinarian so she can save animals lives; why should she have to dissect when she wants to save lives? Animals have the same rights to live as us!
2646 days ago
I feel that every classroom should have dissection alternatives. I cant believe that people are still doing dissections. Its ridiculous! I know that I was very fortunate not to ever be forced to do it, but there are many people who do. Its just sick and wrong.
2646 days ago
I think kids should have dissection alternatives because some kids (like me) have weak stomach's and can't deal with the smell and just watching the poor little thing get dissected. I HAD to dissect a frog last year. I was a vegetarian then, and I told my teacher that. She wasn't so sypathetic. She told me to suck it up, even though there was an online thing that I could have done. I made my partner do all the work. I just couldn't pick up a scalpel. I started crying because I was so appalled. People were flinging the frog parts around like it was a plate of spaghetti or something. I sat in the hall and bawled my eyes out. People shouldn't have to go through what I had to. They should be able to use an alternative because schools have to honor the childs opinions. Frog dissection and any type of dissection really, is wrong. There are plenty of other ways that we can learn about the anatomy of things without dissecting them.
2646 days ago
i dont know why all schools DONT have an alternative to dissection. i mean, it only makes sense! i know tons of students -veg and not veg- who would refuse to dissect because its just plain cruel and disgusting! PLUS, if all those students get a bad grade because they stood up for what they believe in, wouldn't that give the school a bad reputation??
cmon now.
is it really that hard to just download a program??
2646 days ago
Because a lot of people do not agree with killing innocent animals for no other reason other than "educational purposes", even when it is possible to do dissecting labs online, which are equally informative, and cost a lot less than it does to have animals killed, and then perform the dissections. its also a waste of taxpayer money (for public schools
2646 days ago
I think that all science classes should have alternatives to dissection because not everyone is comfortable with dissecting something and it goes against a lot of peoples' morals. They ought to have an alternative so that these people can still take the class without being forced to dissect or fail.
They should also have alternatives to dissection because it just isn't right to cut open an animal that once had a perfectly fine life. For whatever reason, people figure they just have to kill these poor, innocent animals to complete a single course.
It is not true. With today's technology, there are hundreds of alternatives to this. They could study pictures of it. They could get rubber animals and recreate the insides of the animals.
Those are just two examples out of so very many.
Why people still choose to dissect dead animals; I will never know.
2646 days ago
every science class should have disection options, period. there are some, like me, that dont even take sciences because my school doesnt have options. everyone has the right to choose, and that should deff be a choice. those people who are animal activists or are very squemish should have the option to do perhaps a virtual discestion and those who maybe want to become a surgeon or even an animal researcher or such, can have the opportunity to do a disection to see if that is the correct line of work for them. every science class should have disection options, period. there are some, like me, that dont even take sciences because my school doesnt have options. everyone has the right to choose, and that should deff be a choice. those people who are animal activists or are very squemish should have the option to do perhaps a virtual discestion and those who maybe want to become a surgeon or even an animal researcher or such, can have the opportunity to do a disection to see if that is the correct line of work for them. <3
2646 days ago
It is necessary in our day and age to have an alternative to dissecting. Science has moved so far beyond the point where we need to actually observe first hand the organs of another being. There are so many other options now, ones where lives do not need to be taken. Are humans murdered everytime a doctor needs to learn how to do a surgery? No, because once medicine developed a strategy, it was able to be taught in a more practical way. Classrooms need to take the views of vegetarians into account and end dissection.
2646 days ago
I have been forced before to dissect and even though it is against what I believe, I was told I either had to suck it up or fail the class. Dissection is cruel and against nature. If animals were made to be cut up and inspected then this would be a different story, but seeing as animals are living creatures people have no right to cut them open. We need more people in the world who will stand up for those creatures who cannot speak for themselves and one way to do so is change the dissection methods so that animals never have to lose their lives for science anymore. One way to make sure this happens is to put new rules into effect in class rooms. Teachers have absolutely no right to tell students who are against the torture of animals what to do even if they are an authority figure. There is no reason these teachers should be able to force kids to dissect wether they are vegetarian, vegan, or if they do eat meat. If it is not something someone is comfortable with doing then they should not even have to think about doing it in the first place. Think about if the thing you were dissecting was one of your family members. You would feel horrible and not want to let them get hurt in the interest of science. The same principle goes for animals. They have families and lives as well and they deserve to live them to the fullest.
2646 days ago
I have been forced before to dissect and even though it is against what I believe, I was told I either had to suck it up or fail the class. Dissection is cruel and against nature. If animals were made to be cut up and inspected then this would be a different story, but seeing as animals are living creatures people have no right to cut them open. We need more people in the world who will stand up for those creatures who cannot speak for themselves and one way to do so is change the dissection methods so that animals never have to lose their lives for science anymore.
2646 days ago
Plain and simple, the dissection of animals is wrong and inhuman, and how any school can support and enforce such a thing sickens me.
First of all, regarding the Canadian charter of rights, it clearly states that everyone has the right to liberty and their own beliefs. Saying that they technically HAVE to cut the animal open is contradicting what we are supposed to be living by.
Also, it's the same with religion. Certain ones clearly state that it is wrong to use an animal in such a way. Not allowing someone who practices this religion to do an alternate assignment is messing with their rights regarding their religion.
Frankly, there are so many different reasons why alternative dissection should be permitted, but what it comes down to is moral rights. If someone thinks it's wrong, then they should not have to go against what they believe in.
2646 days ago
Dissection is cruel and unnecessary, as there are alternatives to it, and being forced to dissect in order to get a good grade is ridiculous. With technology today, we can simulate the dissection and exploration of an animal with computers, removing the need for actual mass production and killing of innocent frogs, fish, and other animals. Other people may believe otherwise. Alternatives are much cheaper and way more humane than going with the actual process. It should just be removed altogether and replaced with simulation…or for those forced to do it, a choice should at least be given for an alternative.
2646 days ago
Every school should provide alternatives to dissection simple because we should not think cruelty of any form is permissable.it creates this vicious cycle where each round of cruelty encourages the next.its start "innocently" is in the guise of a science experiment.
2646 days ago
In the United States students can't legally be required to pray, take sex ed clases, learn about "big bang" theories or even say the pldge of allegiance. It makes no sense that some schools require students to do something so controversial such as disection. In my personal experience about half of my biology class had one or more reasons for not wanting to dissect. Oregon, being a very liberal state, we had alternatives in place and were able to get out of it… But so many people don't even know they have this option. Over 13% of people in the US are vegetarian or Vegan, and even more than that have concerns for animals, that cutting open an animal for scientific purposes violate. Every Student should have the option to disect or not. As long as they can learn the anatomy on their own (through digital programs, videos, diagrams etc), is a perfect option. In my experience, my class took a quiz after the disection I got 100% without touching an animal, and many of my classmates who did disect, failed.
2646 days ago
dissection shouldn't be required in high school for a few reasons. 1) there are so many alternatives, 2) many people have weak stomachs and could get sick, 3) the formaldehyde and bodies can be really expensive, and 4) with so many vegetarians and vegans, its almost impossible to have an entire class dissect, anyway.
yes, i think that animals were put here by God for us to have dominion over, but i don't believe that he put them here for us to slaughter. we're supposed to be civilized human beings, when really we're acting like barbarians; tearing apart something else's body, and then wasting the parts that went unused it simply costing money. it doesn't cost nearly as much to buy plastic models that can be used again and again as it does to buy new corpses every year (or semester). some alternatives are even free! there are plenty of online dissections that you can use to get the same information. it's really not that hard; just go to google and search it.
and, what's so different between a frog, or a cat, or even a human? we all have hearts, brains, a pulse, and the same basic needs, do we really need to waste a class period to find out what a rat's kidney looks like, when we're never going to use it? it just doesn't make sense to me.
2646 days ago
I was asked to dissect a fetal pig at my college for biology. I sent the head of the department an email saying how i was uncomfortable with it due to my moral standings. He replied back saying I was responsible for the lab so I had to do it or receive a zero for that class. I was so upset and was forced to sit there and watch my partner open up this poor innocent pig. I am now going to write a letter to the school telling them how it is unethical and we should at least have the option… because i should not have to had suffered like that.
2646 days ago
Far more can be learned from an interactive dissection program on the computer than one with live (or once-live) subjects.
I was supposed to dissect a lamb's heart in 7th grade and asked to be excused because I was afraid that I might vomit. At the time I was not the vegetarian I am now and, while I was an animal-lover, I had not take a firm stance in the animal rights movement. Now I know with my whole heart that dissection is unnecessary and immoral.
2646 days ago
I definitely think there should be an alternative because people like me who have to take another scince to graduate and the only one that interests me is Bio 2 but I avoided taking it because I heard there was a lot of dissecting and teacher warn DO NOT TAKE MY CLASS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DISECT OR YOU WILL FAIL. I think that is completely unfair because I want to learn about that subject I just don't want to tear up a poor animals carcas. That would be just like tearing up a human body, which I know we do, but with permission. Animals don't give us their permission obviously. I just think dissecting is wrong and I can't even force myself to do it, thats my opinion and I feel it should be respected, I think everyone who has the same opinion should be respected by being offered an alternative.
2646 days ago
I think there should be alternatives to dissecting because not only is it immoral but it's also against some people's religions and beliefs. In school they teach you to voice your oppinion and stand up for what you believe in.. So why not stand up against dissecting a cat who use to be someones loved pet, or frog that was once living freely in the wildernes. To me it doesn't make sense who would even want to be a part of something so barbaric.
2646 days ago
I think it's important to have alternatives because some animals die as a way of studying life. But it's important to have those alternatives because not everyone is okay with cutting an animal open, looking at the organs of an animal, or even okay with the idea of death to try and study life. We had to dissect in middle school, or we'd fail the entire semester, and it's wrong to say that our schools would provide us with an alternative when they didn't have the means or the money to do so.
2646 days ago
I think this issue goes beyond the science classroom and dissection alternatives… it is about respecting students' and providing them with a nurturing environment to explore, test, and question the moral 'standards' placed on them by educational institutions, in science, health, history, etc. So much of what we learn about morality comes from our parents, friends, and the school… Encouraging young adults and youths to inquire more if they don't understand or something doesn't feel/sound just right to them, question, challenge, stand up for their moral individuality…
And in regard to science classrooms specifically, we hold the technology to create replicas of HUMAN bodies, why not use those in anatomy class? Use science to teach science… makes common sense to me.
2646 days ago
I also disected pigs, cows eyes, frogs, baby sharks among other things in school all the time wishing I were somewhere else. I could have easily learned the same thing with an adequate online learning tool!
2646 days ago
Every science lab should have alternatives to dissections because an animal shouldn't have to be killed for science/study! After we dissect one pig, frog, and whatever else, why do we need to do it again ? After killing ONE you should know how their body works. Take pictures, write things down and spread it around so the murder doesn't have to continue. There's even online versions of dissections, so why do people feel the need to dissect real, once-living and breathing animal ?
Also, Americans have freedoms made possible by the US Constitution! We can freely speak and protest, so we can excersise those rights. If we don't want to dissect, we have the ability to say that we don't believe with our teacher's opinion and we can protest if they don't compromise their lessons for our beliefs.
If we dissected this year, I think it would take a while to break my teacher down but next year we're supposed to dissect a pig fetus and I'm requesting a more lenient teacher. I honestly think my CURRENT teacher is going to fail one of the projects we had to do in class today. We had to make a bookmark with ideas/pictures for pollution control and guess what mine said ? MEAT'S NOT GREEN! And I encourged the readers to go vegan. 🙂
I think she's kind of anti-vegetarian, though.. Most science teachers don't care much for animals from what I've seen. 🙁
2646 days ago
Dissection is so evil in so many ways. One, a poor animal had to die a horrible and painful death just so snotty students can poke and pry at its lifeless body. The mere thought is enough to make me want to puke. SO, in my opinion, every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to students because no poor animal should have to die in a gas chamber for the pure entertainment of high school students. Not to mention certain species of frogs are slowly becoming endangered b/c of all the trapping and murdering of them for retarted science projects.
2646 days ago
At my school, jsust last semester, I was not allowed to do an alternative to dissecting a pig.
I honestly fainted in the class, being the only vegetarian, and I could not stay in the room for the rest of the days.
I don't think that the dissection had any purpose, because we were only marked on the book stuff, not actually participating.
I had a couple of my friends say to me, "well it was going to be killed anyway, its mother was on the way to the slaughterhouse, let it be used for science" Let it be used for science, and what, have MORE animals be slaughtered for food?
The first thing I saw when my lab partner brought over the fetus was that it's next was sliced open very sloppily, and fermaldehyde was pouring out.
I had to stare at that poor creature and draw it. And my school didn't even give me a choice.
I've had to live through the dissection troubles everyone here is so against, and I believe that no one sohuld have to go through that is they are so opposed.
2646 days ago
i think it's just really disgusting and sad that schools force kids & teenagers to dissect animals.
we are all well aware of what a frog looks like on the inside because people have dissected them in the name of science for so long, so i dont see why we have to keep killing them. i know my school forces you to dissect a frog or else you get a zero on the lab. i dont even eat animals so why would i want to dissect one? i think all schools should have alternatives or just not dissect all together because it's really pointless and pathetic.
2646 days ago
way to go, girlie! i refused to dissect in 5th and 7th grades and my grades got docked! luckily by high school bio, our school had computer-based dissection programs, with no real animals. whew. awesome job, thanks for giving a hand to others who might be punished somehow for refusing to dissect!
2646 days ago
On top of the obvious fact that it's inhumane, there are so many alternatives nowadays. Why kill something when you can learn the exact same thing on a computer program? It just doesn't make sense to me, and it shouldn't make sense to anything. You learn the same information – there is nothing that adds to the learning process my dissecting a dead animal, besides the added gag here and there out of utter disgust.
We have alternatives to human health procedures used a century ago that are more humane, efficient, and technologically advanced, so why should this be any different? Just because it has always been done this way doesn't mean that it has to stay the same. We have the technology, so there are no more excuses or reasons to dissect an innocent animal. Did that animal choose when it was born to be raised and killed just so some sophomore in high school could cut it open and look at its guts? No. Is there a necessity to kill it? No. Do we have the technology to learn the same curriculum without harming an animal? Yes. So why aren't we? We should be moving forward, not backwards.
2646 days ago
I think it is unrealistic for children and teenagers ages 8-18 to practice forensics, or anatomical operations on animals. It should be left for adults who have decided on that type of profession. I remember when I was 17 years old part of our grade requirements were to dissect pig's brains, frog's intestines, and shark's reproductive organs. I am a firm believer in higher education, and being practical about using alternative methods to Go Green and Save Animals. The use of dioramas, charts, computer programs, video series, and models may be used in place of dead animals in formaldehyde.
2646 days ago
We had to dissect a sheep eye and I was completely disgusted by it. I wouldn't touch it, and neither would my partner. Our teacher kept going by with it and didn't really care. I just kept thinking about the poor sheep that was killed to show some kind of lesson to us, and it didn't make sense because the eye wasn't even shaped right.
2646 days ago
I think that dissection alternatives should be available because everyone is different. In my grade 10 science class only 3 people chose not to do the dissection, and the teacher seemed sort of mad, but some people think in a way that is morally different from others, like how vegetarians are scrutinized, so are people who don't dissect. Also, there are other alternatives than killing animals just to cut them open and throw them out, there are computer programs and virtual tools that act the same way, that probably cost less than having an animal and are more humane. Another thing is, sometimes students are forced into watching a dissection, if they don't want to take part, but that is almost the same as taking part. This is also morally wrong to make a student, who obviously can't handle taking part in a dissection, watch the dissection taking place. In my bio 20 class, my teacher laughed at me when she made me watch students cutting a cow heart open, and i almost fainted, and she laughed at me and my friend when were crying when she made the class dissect a fetal pig. For her, there were no alternatives, it was stay in, or get out.
Alternatives to dissection should be made available because every student is different. What may be good for one, is not good for the other. It is not fair to make a student do something they feel wrong, and something should be made available for them to do while not breaking what they believe is morally except able.
2646 days ago
Recently in my college bio lab class, the one class i need left to get my AA, I've been fighting to get alternatives for students (including myself) before the dissections in my class started. I was shocked when they were so uncooperative. I had to go to the department chairman and she is now waiting for a fetal pig software to review it and see if it would be "acceptable". due to lack of time, with no other alternative I had to read the direction while my 2 partners tried to cut open a worm and a crayfish. I've never seen a dissection first hand like that before, and now that I have a can say from experience that that was the stupidest thing ever. what a waste of time and money and of LIFE! the worm was flat and my teacher ever had to help cut it open it was so hard. once we did get it open everything was all mushy and the cray fish was no better. I dont understand why we couldn't have observed a living worm and crayfish go about there lives. I will keeping fighting for a real alternative, and hopefully change the schools rules.
2646 days ago
I think science labs should always have dissection alternatives because killing an animal just so someone can get a grade is so unnecessary!
2646 days ago
I believe students should always have alternatives to crazy, gross, and homicidal acts, especially since now a days we can simulate dissections on computers or with one of those fake gellitan frog dissection kits.
2646 days ago
Because of all the alternatives (computer dissection programs, synthetics), it's ridiculous that we're still cutting up dead animals.
There's just absolutely no reason why schools should still choose this method, with all the other cruelty-free options.
And, besides it being cruel, it's just disgusting.
It's not fair to the animals, and it's not fair to the student forced into doing it.
2646 days ago
in biology i was forced to disect a cows heart. it was the most traumatic experience in my entire life. i informed the teacher that i was a vegan and that it went against all my morals she said sure it was dead anyway and forced me to hack it open and disrespect it by trying to find the aorta etc with my fingers. i couldnt do it i stormed out of the class close to tears my friends understood as they were against it too. i vowed never to go back but the principal promised me that no more pupils would be forced to discet now the school has a plastic model of a heart which i think is better in so many ways. i got an f in that class but i dont care. also its disgusting to discet frogs i have a pet frog named elmo that i found injured. he is so cute why does science have to require so much cruelty?
2646 days ago
When I was forced to disect a pig in my science class I didnt even remember what they wanted me to learn because i didnt want to participate. All I remember is how gross that science project was. I didnt want to learn anything from dissecting that pig. Im sure there are a lot of people who feel the same.
2646 days ago
Every school should have dissecting options because for people like me (and everyone else here), it is against our moral beliefs. Many of these animals are raised and killed simply so a student may cut them up in order to "learn." I honestly see no connection between a frog's inards and a humans. They are not in the same place nor as complicated so what is a potential doctor going to learn? "Oh! This is what a heart looks like!" "Uh yeah…just like the picture we saw in class and the model we had to make. Thrilling!" It is an unnessary suffering.
2646 days ago
i just said i was pregnant.
the teacher didn't believe me though… seeing as i am a boy.
but i opted out and i had to take a test instead. LAME, but much better imho
oh, and we dissected cats, not frogs! it's still as inhumane as the frogs, but i am a cat owner/lover, so i just could bring myself to do it… i would be thinking of my cats the entire time!
2646 days ago
I think every classroom should have a dissection alternative because, I was one of those kids, in the 8th grade (god that was about 8 years ago…) anyways, I made every excuse to not cut open the frog, considering my sister had pet frogs at home, i really didn't want to cut Scooter open. Also my dad has been a vegetarian/Buddhist my whole life, and he has influenced my decisions greatly. I knew he would be disappointed if i did this. I eventually had to spend the entire day at the principals office. A few weeks later, I did an animal rights speech for speech class and invited my science teacher.
So my reasons are, since now, we know what the organs, and insides of the human and animal look like, why can't they make synthetic parts that you can cut open and put back together? there are materials out there to make it 100% realistic feeling and looking. I think it always grosses people out to do the real thing, and for people like myself, who are against killing animals for testing and research!
2646 days ago
I definitely think all schools should invest in alternatives to dissection. Dissection is totally archaic, especially with advances in technology that can help us learn WITHOUT committing animal genocide.
Theres absolutely NO reason for students to cut into dead animals to see how their bodies work, and theres absolutely no reason for animals to die just so we can learn biology.
2646 days ago
You would never force a student against abortion or the death penalty to sit through a presentation in support of these things. Nor would a school condone a racist or homophobic speaker to present their beliefs. Then how could they possibly force a student to partake in the dissection of a murdered animal in order to pass? If it against a student's morals, they should not have to partake.
2646 days ago
Dissection is not only horrible for the poor animals that have to die just for a bunch of kids can cut them up, but it's also really bad for the students. I was forced to doa frog disection and it horrified me to know it was a pregnat female. The smell was so bad that I also passed out and the whole classroom and hallway smelled of those dangerous chemicals for a week or so. I managed to not do the shark dissection the next year and that is so bad that it must be done out on the track area. So anyone who runs by is subjected to the smell of formaldhyde and other dangerous chemicals. That's why I think schools should just use alternative methods because besides saving countless numbers of animals (We also dissected a worm, but I was sick that week), you are saving the students from inhaling all those dangerous chemicals that we are suppose to stay away from.
2646 days ago
after reading some of the comments above, i scoped out dissection software as an alternative to actual dissection (i was surprised to know it even existed!!). what i found not only gives students the opportunity to opt out of real dissections, but also gives them the opportunity to have some hands on experience with some really awesome technology. as of the beginning of last year, companies have produced virtual reality dissection software that realisticly simulates the actual dissection process. this means that what the school's curriculum is aiming to teach with dissection will not be sacrificed, and neither will any animals. other benefits of such dissection alternatives would be not exposing students to the chemicals and (possibly dangerous) tools used for dissection and not having to compromise any student's moral/religious beliefs. a benefit for the school, along with not having to handle the chemicals and supporting student diversity, is that the whole dissection process will be much more uniform and much cleaner without having to worry about the animal subjects deteriorating while storing and then have to discard such subjects. offering alternatives to animal dissections in the classroom, such as dissection software, is definitely a win-win for both the school and the students.
2646 days ago
I'm at school right now in the biology/science room..and there are dead things everywhere. I think there should be alternatives because everytime I walk in this room I cry. Its horrible. I think everyone has the right to refuse to do something that is against there beliefs.
2646 days ago
Disection and murdering animals in the name of science is sick and cruel – how would humans like it if it were done to them? Weldone Kayla
2646 days ago
Every science classroom should have dissection alternatives available to students because not everyone wants to feel like they're part of a slasher movie!
2646 days ago
schools should deffinately have the alternative!
it's not fair that people who are against dissection should have to take an f because of their values.
plus, it would be a great way to convince plenty of other people that dissection is wrong by letting them do the alternative instead of disect
2646 days ago
No question, every school should have dissection alternatives for students for a lot of reasons. It makes students sick to have to do that kind of stuff even if they aren't animal rights enthusiasts; so why do schools want to put kids through that just so they can "learn how the body of an animal works"?? It really makes no sense to me. I haven't ever had to dissect anything (my high school was just good with that I guess?), but I know people who have and they agree that an alternative would have been preferred to dissecting an animal.
2646 days ago
There is just no need for dissection! Cosmetics are not required for survival and so many medicines approved on rats or monkeys have killed people. Children at school need to learn to respect all creatures, and follow Kayla's lead by challenging the belief that dissection is essential or even a necessary evil.
2646 days ago
I know at my school we had to do a dissection of a rat and a frog but I got out of it just by asking the teacher. I had to do a 20 page worksheet, but it was worth the extra work for me.
Alternatvies should be avaiable for everyone, some students can't stand cutting things open, or people like me find it inhumane and wrong.
Killing an animal for any level science class if right wrong, they don't have the choice. We take advantage of their life and it's not fair.
2646 days ago
Not only is dissection inhumane, financially inefficient, and anachronistic, it forces students to choose between their desire to enter scientific and medical fields and their commitment to protecting animals' welfare. I remember reading a post on the peta2 boards from a Street Teamer who wanted to become a doctor, but was afraid that this would be impossible due to the fact that she (or he, since I don't remember the gender) was morally opposed to dissecting animals in classes. Imagine the other passionate individuals who would become scientists or doctors–healing injuries and curing diseases, and generally improving our quality of life–who won't pursue these careers because of dissection. It's not only sad, it's scary.
2646 days ago
Since we have been dissecting so long, we know what is on the inside of animals, so we can make models of everything. There is no reason to murder an animal just to see something that we know is there. Classrooms teach cruelty my forcing students to dissect live animals.
2646 days ago
i'm vegan now…. but it was dissecting frogs in the 8th grade in 1997 that made me a vegatarian. it was the first time i've ever seen the inside of an innocent animal and realized — "this is just a frog. what does a cow or chicken look like on the idside?? what the hell am i eating?!". i quickly started making changes in my life.
move forward a few years to the 10th grade, in 1999, in my biology class we had to dissect an eye, a brain, and a pigs fetus.
i was so morally against this that i refused to do ANY of it! i told my teacher and she said the only choice i had was to either do the dissections or copy someone else's note and take an F "lab" portion of the project. not fair!!!! but i, of course, opted to take the F and sit in the library for the remainder of the class.
now with so many more younger people today being vegetarian and vegan — i think there should be more options for students who oppose doing these unneccissary dissections!
i remember, while my sister was studying to be a nurse a few years ago, they used computer programs to do the dissections in her biology class! computer programs! for a career path where this actually pertains to it!
why can't that be an option in the high schools??
leave the real dissections for students who actually want to become biologists and surgeons!
there is no need for kids 12-18 years old to be dissecting innocent creatures — especially when they are just screwing around while doing it and not even on a career path in which dissecting would be crucial to their learning!
2646 days ago
You know, animals aren't killed especially for school dissection classes. Instead of just incinerated or decomposing, they're used as learning tools. Nobody makes MONEY off of dissection animals. The cats are normally strays that were put to sleep. Like it or not, cats are put to sleep cuz they're sick, injured, dying, and we have an insane overpopulation of cats due to PEOPLE's irresponsibility.
2646 days ago
Because students shouldn't be forced to violate their ethics in order to receive a proper education. By limiting science ed to students who are willing to kill and carve up sentient beings, we're just creating another generation of physicians, veterinarians, researchers, etc. who don't care a whit about animals. It's time to break the cycle.
2646 days ago
i think that what shes doing is AMAZING!!
honestly schools should have that alternative.!
2646 days ago
I have a very specific reason for wanting dissection alternatives available in schools. Many of the cats used for dissection were shelter animals euthanized because no one adopted them. This is often the reason for the extremely short available-for-adoption to euthenasia time period. Most of my pets are shelter rescues and/or ex-strays and I could not imagine someone cutting short their life just to cut them open to "study" them.
Also, the fetal pigs used for dissection were raised on farms specifically for that purpose. The pig has been proven to be the smartest animal in the world, with an intelligence level of a four year old. The depravity of breeding these animals to remove them from the womb and kill them is proposterous.
Something needs to be done to save these animals.
2646 days ago
I think every classroom should have dissection alternatives because if they don't you feel uncomfortable and its against your beliefs. Animals should not be abused in this invasive and disrespectful way.Calling on a personal experience, my friend and I are both vegetarian, and study at college, doing biology. We were asked to dissect a pig heart, which we politely declined on the grounds of our beliefs. The teacher was very angry at us for this, and tried their best to make us do it, however, we kept refusing. The best solution they offered us was "Go outside until we've finished" and even then they forgot we were there. I think not having an alternative impacts on your education (I want to be a nurse and need Biology) and this is unacceptable, had this been a different minority group, such as a religion who don't do this either, I feel sure provision would be made. Therefore I think that to stop people feeling segregated, ashamed and unincluded there needs to be an alternative to this unecessary procedure.
2646 days ago
The work you're doing is great! I think educators should respect students' moral decisions just as they would respect religious ones. My high school dissected more than frogs and I think computer programs like the one suggested would really be helpful to the school district, the animals, and the students facing moral dilemmas.
2646 days ago
there's no longer a reason to use real bodies – it's archaic and cruel. classrooms need to respect a student's choice to remain an ethical citizen. If they have alternatives readily available there won't be pressure or conflict related to what they're teaching.
2646 days ago
I think that schools should have dissection alternatives because it is completely unfair and immoral to force a person to kill and mangle the body of a helpless animal just so they can get a good grade. It's an outrage that we should be forced to do that, when alternatives do exist! To make kids dissect is to force a person into murder, and neither sound good to me.
2646 days ago
At my high school, we had a computer program that acted as a dissection portion of a lesson. So, when it came to learning about a frog, the class would go to the computer lab, boot up the program and "dissect" a frog or rabbit.
I thought it was a nice way to save money for the school and not go against certain students' ethical concerns.
2646 days ago
Not only is dissection inhumane, but it is wrong to force somebody to do anything that they morally do not believe in.
Schools, or anybody for that matter, 1. Do not have the right to kill animals just for the sake of dissection, and 2. Do not have the right to force any student to do something that they are morally against.
Not only are animals' rights tested here, but also people's. And no science classroom has the right to do this. There are so many alternatives that can be used, why go on killing innocent animals just for the sake of students to cut them up? Online dissections are just as effective, and teach us not only about the science behind the anatomy of an animal, but they also teach students to be morally good and not support the cruelty and unfairness of killing animals.
I myself have gone through the process of fighting for a dissection alternative, and with being careful and respectful to my teacher thankfully reached it. Nobody should be forced to dissect, and no animal should be forced to die for that purpose. (Or any, for that matter.)
2646 days ago
I think science labs should always have dissection alternatives because killing an animal just so someone can get a grade is so unnecessary! Why should we dissect a real animal that had a life when we can study a fake one or somehow use a different way to study it?
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