citronsoul said:
I still remember in my high school biology class, we were dissecting the reproductive organs of a cow & a bull. It was right during the mad cow disease scare. Several cows were slaughtered, regardless of their current health. The organs of the cow contained a small baby calf. It was quite disturbing to see a tiny, perfectly formed little cow. ...what a waste.
The same happened at my high school. In grade eleven Biology class we were forced (and I say so quite freely) to dissect cats. Many of the cats, I later found out, were pregnant, and purposely given to each class with the knowledge they were, so that random students had to go through finding a litter of kittens in their cat. I was the sole exception to this forced dissection because I refused outright. I would not go through with it, and my aunt (who was my guardian at the time) initially wrote a letter refusing as well to allow me to participate in the "exercise" (I use the term loosely).
However, when my biology teacher called my aunt and "explained the necessity of the exercise," even my aunt tried forcing me into it. Still I refused. I suppose in rebuttal, the teacher refused to allow me to use the "virtual" dissection that was based upon a baby pig, all because they "were not the same animal, and therefore would hinder my exam results based upon the difference in species." What a load of BULL! After a long fight, and an appeal to my principal, I was credited the mere 10% of the dissection and exam portion based on it (which I would have gladly given up) because prior to the dissection I had a 97% in the class. What amazed me was my teachers willingness to overlook my hard work based upon my refusal to dissect a poor cat.
Did I mention that the premise behind my refusal was not simply my repulsion at the use of animals to teach high school students what organs look like, but moreover the fact that these cats came from a shelter. That's right, these cats were all ones who, by no fault of their own, were put to death because no one was willing to adopt them, and then their bodies were put on display at the local highschool. This was common knowledge at my school, that the cats were ones whose bodies had been "donated to science" by the shelter-we were even made aware of this before the dissections were to begin! (I ask how exactly a highscool class is a "scientific effort"...but I digress.) Now either I was the only one who cared, or the only one with guts enough to adamantly refuse. Either way, the thought disgusts me.