Each year, millions of frogs, rats, cats, mice, and other animals suffer and are killed for dissection.

Pedagogical Studies consistently prove that students who use alternative methods to dissection learn as well or better than students who use animals. The psychological impact on students should also concern educators. (See David Gallagher's video regarding violence prevention) Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine's Dissection Alternatives web site provides many more reasons not to dissect including a cost analysis which reveals the significant savings by using non animal materials. To become fully informed, read all of the information provided by PCRM.

PCRM also provides a list of alternative materials and offers one free of charge to to students, parents, and teachers. Visit their web site and fill out the order form to receive a free copy of the Digital Frog 2 interactive CD-ROM. The Humane Society of the United States will loan alternative materials to schools through their Humane Education Loan Program (HELP) and New England Anti-Vivisection Society provides links to many online dissection sites.

The United Federation of Teachers provides a 4-8 week unit "Alternatives to Dissection in Biology Education" to encourage a greater respect for the intrinsic value and worth of animals. See also their "Research the Advances Human Health Without Harming Animals","Award Winning Student Projects" and "Projects in Progress."

Dissection Law

Students have successfully brought about change in state dissection laws and local school policy. Jennifer Routh, a New York college student, argued in 1990 that the requirement violated her First Amendment right to exercise her moral and religious beliefs. As a result, any student expressing a moral or religious objection to the performance of or witnessing of the dissection of animals must be provided with an alternative project. Such objection must be put into writing by the student's parent or legal guardian. To view the law regarding dissection in New York, click here and turn to page three, item four. Visit Cut Out Dissection for a sample objection letter.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Conscientious Objection

Routh's attorney, Gary Francione, who represented many more students, wrote the publication Vivisection and Dissection in the Classroom: A Guide to Conscientious Objection. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's "Conscientious Objection in the Classroom: Elementary and Secondary Schools." may be read online and Cut Out Dissection offers additional information for teachers and students. Finally, the Animal Legal Defense Fund sponsors a national, toll-free Students Against Dissection hotline 800-922-FROG.

Rather than concede given the mounting research in favor of alternatives to dissection, National Science Teachers Association "calls for more research to determine the effectiveness of animal dissection activities and alternatives and the extent to which these activities should be integrated into the science curriculum. NSTA also "opposes regulations or legislation that would eliminate an educator's decision-making role regarding dissection." This clearly contradicts the National Science Education Standards which envision changes in teaching asking that educators "display and demand respect for the diverse ideas, skills and experiences of all students. Furthermore the standards ask teachers to be respectful and responsive to student needs. Provide your students with alternatives that are more effective, that respect their values and do not violate their Constitutional rights.

Study and Care of Live Animals

New York education law provides guidelines for the study, treatment and care of live animals in the classroom. Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers provides the text of the laws from other states regarding the same.

Read - Animals in the Classroom: Lessons in Disrespect and Classroom Critters: To Be or Not to Be? regarding live animals in the classroom.

More to come.......................................

"By and large students are taught that it is ethically acceptable to perpetrate, in the name of science, what from the point of view of the animals would certainly qualify as torture. By the time [the students] arrive in the labs they have been programmed to accept the suffering around them." ~ Jane Goodall, PhD, Through a Window: My 30 Years With the Chimpanzees in Gombe.

©2007 Humane Teacher