Many students feel the stress of peer pressure and fear of repercussions by the teacher when not wanting to dissect animals in biology classes. These students find cutting up animals to be morally objectionable, yet feel forced to do so. In fact this moral dilemma can cause grades to go way down. Some people do not realize that even though each year, 10 million animals (including frogs, cats, and fetal pigs) are killed and then cut up in classrooms across the country, humane alternatives do exist. Studies have shown that students who use alternatives to dissection perform just as well as, if not better than students who cut up animals. In most states students have the right to refuse to dissect animals if they choose and most do not even realize it. The reality is your student does not have to dissect animals if they do not want to and it is the school’s responsibility to find alternatives for each student.
