Disection protester

[AnimalHouse36]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081013/...dd_name_change

I thought this was so cool of a 19 year old to do. Yet oddly bizzare. I think it just goes to show what a child can do. In middle school she made a new rule! Amazing. Also, somewhat humorous!

[Angelgal]

I think its great what she's doing. Highschool kids should have an alternative to the dissections (my school did). Actually, I don't feel highschool students should have such a project because many are so immature about it and a lot dont' give the animal the respect they deserve. My highschool biology class was a nightmare during our dessection week - if you've ever read Lord of the Flies... you'll get my drift.

However I'm not totally against dissection itself since well I'm a Vet Tech student and dissection is kind of needed in our anatomy and physiology because what's in a textbook is not the same as seeing it first hand. However we are very respectful of the animals and don't do as little as we can to learn what we have to. They are tough on us and how we treat the animals.

[dra&pigs]

I have to dissect frogs this year in science class-I already asked my teacher and he said that anyone who didn't want to dissect will be able to have an alternative assignment. Thank God!!

[wheekers01]

whoa! that is a cool thing for cutoutdissection.com to do! It is smart really because then people ask questions about the site and her against dissection! We have to dissect crayfish and a pigs heart this year. Probably more! Like 5-8 people [including me] are objecting! Thankfully there is an alternative!! yay! I agree I am not totally against it because I want to be a veterinarian but right now I don't want to! And being a vet is different. You save the animals life you don't cut them up!

[Deenanicole08]

I hope you mean "child" as in when she first began opposing it, not refering to her now, being 19 as a child. At 19 she's fully thinking and become very grow. I'm 18 and I pay all my bills on my own, care for my animals on my own, take care of my car, and completely care for myself. I get practically zero assistance from my mom and stepdad, absolutely none from my father (dont get my started, I often refer to him as my son, as a joke, but let's just say that I have been taking him to work since I got my license at 16). Just because 18-19 is still young, doesn't mean their children. But it may just be how I interpreted it when I read it.

I think that that's amazing though. I'm not against dissection, since I really dont want someone operating on me, or my pets without actually seeing the inside of some living creatures body, but some people aren't meant to be surgons and vets. Some people just dont want to go through that. I personally didn't even take BIO2 in highschool since they dissected in that class with no alternative assignment.

[Taboo]

^ 19 is still pretty young. I mean, sure, you're an adult at that age but you're still a teen..

My highschool biology class was a nightmare during our dessection week - if you've ever read Lord of the Flies... you'll get my drift.

I've read it a few times.

I had to dissect once sometime during elementary school. I think I was around 9. Now I would refuse to.

[Deenanicole08]

Yes we're young, I'm saying not a child. I did say that 18-19 is young, but not children.

[AnimalHouse36]

I hope you mean "child" as in when she first began opposing it, not refering to her now, being 19 as a child.

If you article it says in middle school she passed new dissection laws. I was reffering to that.

[lmarieaa]

Thats great. I remember when i was in highschool i didnt want to dissect the fetal pig. They told me i would have to do it or take an F as my final grade in biology. I took the F. It was the best F i ever got!

[Lauren&Pigs]

That's wonderful! I had to dissect many different things last year. Every time I asked my teacher if I could have an alternative, she said "Of course!" and then never ended up following through. ): I ended up having to dissect six different things. ):

[5guinea5pig5]

I think she did a wonderful thing and because of her a lot more people are probably going to stop dissecting.

[Froggirl009]

at my school you can choose the vitural option on the computer. www.frogguts.com

[Angelgal]

I have got to ask, what is so bad about dissection (other then some people being too squimish). Yeah its great she got an alternative assignment for her school and many already do... but why stop it altogether when its such an important thing done widely?

Its a great learning process because what you learn from a textbook doesn't even compare to seeing it inside an animal. If I didn't dissect, I probably wouldn't have decided on Vet Tech because stuff from a textbook is so different, not to mention less exciting ... and our many belovid pets wouldn't get the great medical care they do by Vet's and Vet Tech's. Not to mention in animal research, we wouldn't have a lot of the drugs and medications and knowledge we do ... animals are dissected to see the "effects" becuase hey, I wouldn't want a medication going on the market that's going to cause something like kidney or heart problems.
What is so morally wrong about it? I just don't see it.

When teachers crack down with rules in the classroom and find better punishments then suspension (free vacation off school IMO) then dissection in the highschool classroom wouldn't be so bad. Its kids running around with fetal pig heads on a pencil that I have serious issues with.

Maybe its just one of those days for me.

[AnimalHouse36]

Originally Posted by Angelgal

I have got to ask, what is so bad about dissection (other then some people being too squimish). Yeah its great she got an alternative assignment for her school and many already do... but why stop it altogether when its such an important thing done widely?

Its a great learning process because what you learn from a textbook doesn't even compare to seeing it inside an animal. If I didn't dissect, I probably wouldn't have decided on Vet Tech because stuff from a textbook is so different, not to mention less exciting ... and our many belovid pets wouldn't get the great medical care they do by Vet's and Vet Tech's. Not to mention in animal research, we wouldn't have a lot of the drugs and medications and knowledge we do ... animals are dissected to see the "effects" becuase hey, I wouldn't want a medication going on the market that's going to cause something like kidney or heart problems.
What is so morally wrong about it? I just don't see it.

When teachers crack down with rules in the classroom and find better punishments then suspension (free vacation off school IMO) then dissection in the highschool classroom wouldn't be so bad. Its kids running around with fetal pig heads on a pencil that I have serious issues with.

Maybe its just one of those days for me.

They have breeding farms that they get their dead animals from if I remember correctly. Only some take the animals from shelters that were humanly euthanised.

In my experience the animals get no respect in the after life (people throwing dead frogs, breaking their legs, ect. ect.) How would you like to be treated like that.

Many years ago they didn't have the inernet to learn from. Now they have realistic virtual dissection where its just like the real thing. Now why is it neccassary to dissect animals (and put those squimish people in uncomfortable situations) when you have that?

I understand vet techs HAVE to do this in order to help animals but what pertencage of high school students are really going to be using these skills?

I'm sure somebody else could give you more reasons.

[Deenanicole08]

The thing with doing dissection in high school is that they want everyone to try it out, because in high school now they have you picking your college and everything. Like taking the ACT is now mandatory to graduate (in Michigan at least, I'm pretty sure that's a national rule also though) and you have to take it in 11th grade. They really push to get you to try and see what you really have a knack for so to speak and if you would like to pursure the career. I dont see a problem with dissection, since like I said before, I certainly dont want someone operating on my pets with out ever seeing inside of one before, only seeing it on the internet. I just think that it should be mandatory that there is an alternative assignment available as well, since in many schools there isnt, you either do it or you fail the assignment.

[sophistacavy]

I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but I whole-heartedly respect the lifestyles of those who are. And I can't imagine how a high-schooler, who is already at one of the most delicate stages of our lives, would feel if they were vegetarian or vegan, and had to dissect something. Staring your worst nightmare straight in the face, the smell filling your nostrils, so strong you can taste it, and then bam. You know what you're tasting, the source of the smell that is so strong is lying right in front of you. Put yourself in the shoes of a high-school aged vegan or vegetarian, and imagine realizing what you're tasting through your nose. Your reason for making the major decision you made, is in your mouth, nose, eyes. You can't get away from it.

Once again, I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but lemme tell you, I think anyone can see their point in doing what they do. This isn't directed at any one person who posted on here in particular, but before anyone says whats so wrong with dissection, why is it such a big deal, just people who are "a little bit squeamish", yadda yadda.......put yourself in someone else's shoes, whose like, worst nightmare is doing the opposite of what they stand for (vegetarians, vegans), or their worst nightmare is to become a vet.

I'm going to become an exotic animals veterinarian, and I will specilaize in animals that aren't anyone's pet, such as wildlife and zoo/rescue-rehab center animals. I will also include "pet exotic animals" in my practice, including guinea pigs, of course. This is my dream, what I have been waiting for my whole life since my infant eyes encountered my first animal. But....I am so squemish, its not even funny. And I want to be a specialized vet. So, I have been trying to desensitize myself. I have also come to realize that animals I may operate on are alive, and will not have an odor such as a fermaldahyde stink-bomb that is dead, and is being dissected, always has. So, once I get through enough dissections, I will be relieved to work on living animals, who won't smell like that when they're opened up.
I'm even putting a dissection kit I found in Edmund Scientific's catalog on my christmas list this year. I have a darn good justified reason for wanting one: I want to be a vet, who might save your cavy's butt one day, who might revolutionize the seriously lacking world of exotic animal vets, who might train future generations of real exotic animal vets, who might save your child's cavy, or your grandchild's cavy. So. I'm hoping this kit will aid me greatly in my quest to desensitize myself. It comes with a bunch of specimens, like around six or so I think. Go to Complete Dissecting Kit - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific to check it out.

And also, 19 year olds are def. not children, even though I'm just shy of being a "legal adult" myself, a 19 year old is not a child. Minors are 14 and under. So technically, a 15 year old isn't even a minor. Watch it before ya criticize someone's age, since us women have such an obsession with keeping ourselves looking young, us "young folk" could say a whole lotta stuff right now that you "older folk" (as you are suggesting you are), really would not want to hear. Take it easy people. At least we're like 20+ years away from getting wrinkles! :P

[BrainDeadBuster]

Originally Posted by wheekers01

whoa! that is a cool thing for cutoutdissection.com to do! It is smart really because then people ask questions about the site and her against dissection! We have to dissect crayfish and a pigs heart this year. Probably more! Like 5-8 people [including me] are objecting! Thankfully there is an alternative!! yay! I agree I am not totally against it because I want to be a veterinarian but right now I don't want to! And being a vet is different. You save the animals life you don't cut them up!

Just wanted to point out that vets save lives by preforming operations, and you can't open an animal up without cutting into it. Dissection is an invaluable service for those whom wish to become Surgeons or Vets. You're not just "cutting them up", you're looking at each organ and carefully extracting each and moving on to the insides of that organ, ect. Very useful info and very useful practice for the future. I certainly wouldn't want a doctor cutting into me if he had never seen someones insides firsthand before! Also wanted to point out that vet techs do not operate, only vets do that.

[guineapigluver1]

I agree with BrainDeadBuster. Although I don't like the breeding farms that breed for this purpose.
But I do think that kids in high school should be given a choice. They shouldn't have to do it. The only way I see it as okay is in vet tech or vet school.

[BrainDeadBuster]

Originally Posted by guineapigluver1

I agree with BrainDeadBuster. Although I don't like the breeding farms that breed for this purpose.
But I do think that kids in high school should be given a choice. They shouldn't have to do it. The only way I see it as okay is in vet tech or vet school.

I agree about the breeding farms, but where else will they come from?

[BrainDeadBuster]

Originally Posted by sophistacavy

I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but I whole-heartedly respect the lifestyles of those who are. And I can't imagine how a high-schooler, who is already at one of the most delicate stages of our lives, would feel if they were vegetarian or vegan, and had to dissect something. Staring your worst nightmare straight in the face, the smell filling your nostrils, so strong you can taste it, and then bam. You know what you're tasting, the source of the smell that is so strong is lying right in front of you. Put yourself in the shoes of a high-school aged vegan or vegetarian, and imagine realizing what you're tasting through your nose. Your reason for making the major decision you made, is in your mouth, nose, eyes. You can't get away from it.

Once again, I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but lemme tell you, I think anyone can see their point in doing what they do. This isn't directed at any one person who posted on here in particular, but before anyone says whats so wrong with dissection, why is it such a big deal, just people who are "a little bit squeamish", yadda yadda.......put yourself in someone else's shoes, whose like, worst nightmare is doing the opposite of what they stand for (vegetarians, vegans), or their worst nightmare is to become a vet.

I'm going to become an exotic animals veterinarian, and I will specilaize in animals that aren't anyone's pet, such as wildlife and zoo/rescue-rehab center animals. I will also include "pet exotic animals" in my practice, including guinea pigs, of course. This is my dream, what I have been waiting for my whole life since my infant eyes encountered my first animal. But....I am so squemish, its not even funny. And I want to be a specialized vet. So, I have been trying to desensitize myself. I have also come to realize that animals I may operate on are alive, and will not have an odor such as a fermaldahyde stink-bomb that is dead, and is being dissected, always has. So, once I get through enough dissections, I will be relieved to work on living animals, who won't smell like that when they're opened up.
I'm even putting a dissection kit I found in Edmund Scientific's catalog on my christmas list this year. I have a darn good justified reason for wanting one: I want to be a vet, who might save your cavy's butt one day, who might revolutionize the seriously lacking world of exotic animal vets, who might train future generations of real exotic animal vets, who might save your child's cavy, or your grandchild's cavy. So. I'm hoping this kit will aid me greatly in my quest to desensitize myself. It comes with a bunch of specimens, like around six or so I think. Go to Complete Dissecting Kit - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific to check it out.

And also, 19 year olds are def. not children, even though I'm just shy of being a "legal adult" myself, a 19 year old is not a child. Minors are 14 and under. So technically, a 15 year old isn't even a minor. Watch it before ya criticize someone's age, since us women have such an obsession with keeping ourselves looking young, us "young folk" could say a whole lotta stuff right now that you "older folk" (as you are suggesting you are), really would not want to hear. Take it easy people. At least we're like 20+ years away from getting wrinkles! :P

Um, yeah, 15 IS a minor! So is 16, and 17, unless you're emancipated.