(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
by Fred Jackson and Jody Brown
It appears political correctness has started to hit the biology labs of the nation's schools.
A report indicates a growing number of students are becoming “conscientious objectors” when it comes to the issue of dissecting creatures in their biology labs. Schools in places such as Maryland, Vermont, and Nevada are reporting that students are refusing to dissect frog, pig, and worm specimens, branding it as “cruelty.”
In one case, a young girl was removed from her anatomy class after refusing to dissect a cat. But authorities backed down after protesters picketed the school.
According to Associated Press, national teacher groups maintain that dissections are a better learning tool than computer simulations. In its official policy, the National Association of Biology Teachers encourages teachers to be sensitive to “substantive student objections” to dissection and to consider appropriate alternatives for such students.
Still, that teachers' group believes “no alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissection or other use of animals, and urges teachers to be aware of the limitations of alternatives.”
Wayne Carley of the National Association of Biology Teachers adds that many who oppose dissection act on emotion rather than intellect. And at least one university biology professor takes note of the fact that the group Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has encouraged a student movement that has resulted in both pre-college teachers and college professors offering alternative assignments to fulfill the animal dissection requirement.
