Anyone have a child who refused to dissect something in biology class?

[ZachnElli]

Ok, so this was about 17 years ago, but it was dissect the cat or get an F for the project. We did have partners, but the teacher walked around the room and wrote down who was doing the dissecting and it was a week long project. It was the first dissection I couldn't get out of. I got out of the worm, frog, and pig, but not the cat.

 

[r3ngels]

In High school I was dreading it the thought of it now makes me sick. It was a week long project and I paired up with some one who would do the cutting I was still not happy but when we walked into the lab I couldn't even stand to see them I got so sick...The look of them on their backs and the smell.

Literally S I C K. I was out of school for a couple of days.

A couple of years later I registered for Biology in college and we had to disect a pig and cat... needless to say. I transferred classes I think I took botony or something.

I really hope they don't make her do it. It is a shame that it is a requirement for those who are opposed to it or just have weak stomaches.

 

[2bemarried]

I managed to get out of having to do that. The teacher knew I had already passed out in Driver's Ed class watching a wreckage video, so she gave me another assignment.

 

[MosMom]

I refused to dissect a LIVE rat that was under anesthesia 15 years ago in a high school biology class. The teacher was not very good about it so I did not pass that section of the class. I still ended up with a good grade in the class but it was definitely not the A I had before....but I am very proud that I did not give into someone else's principles just to get a good grade!

We had to "pith" a frog and it was awful. The teacher was the only one doing that but we had to observe it. Then my animal science teacher was a hunter and brought in a deer he had shot for us to do a necropsy on. Blech!

I think she should go with her gut and take whatever punishment may come. She is a good student. This is a point in her life where standing up for her beliefs becomes important. However, if your daughter has any interest in a career involving any of this...she might consider doing it.

 

[BeamsofLight]

When I was in grade 10 high school bio (let's see .. 12 years ago?), we were supposed to dissect earthworms and frogs. I was the only person in class who objected to doing it, and said so to the teacher. She had no problem with it, and gave me a textbook with some pictures to do the assignment with instead. Since the purpose of the assignment was to locate certain 'features' and label them on a diagram, it was easy enough to do with pictures rather than actual dead animals.

At higher grades they did fetal pigs. It wasn't 'optional' then, since you weren't required to take that course, and therefore they assumed everyone in the class would be into biology enough to be interested in dissection.

Hope it works out for your daughter.

 

[GoodFairies]

It doesn't matter that SHE didn't kill it, but just the thought of having to look at "a poor, little, defenseless animal", and the thoughts of what eveyone is doing to it. It may not seem rational to everyone else, but to her it's heartbreaking.

Okay, you might not like it, she might not like it, but I am just preparing you for what you will most likely hear when you are faced with the situation if her excuse is that she doesn't want to harm an animal.
At the schools I've attended (middle, high, college all had dissections), we had to do it or receive a failing grade for that portion of the class.

 

[MosMom]

That was the very reason I took Marine Biology instead in high school! I hope ya'll find a solution!

You lucked out...I took that as well and had to do a nurse shark.

 

[Laura]

Hopefully, it won't come to this, but I feel the same way. My daughter has always been an honors student, and always in the 95-99th percentile on standardized tests. She knows we expect her to maintain good grades, but in a case like this, the good grade will take a back seat.

I'm glad you'll stick up for her on this.

BTW, I wasn't a vegetarian in high school and what we dissected was a fetal pig. Since I ate pork products (as did most the rest of the class) I didn't even think about trying to get out of it, and I don't know of any students who did. There are computer programs that fake a frog dissection and so forth, so you may have alternatives. From everyone's posts, it seems obvious that every school has different rules about skipping dissections.

 

[CinderellaIam]

Oh, bad memories, bad memories!

When I was in H.S. we had to do the fetal pig, I told the teacher I have a very weak stomach, he said tough. My partner sliced it open and I vomited all over the desk. I was embarassed as can be. He sent me to the nurse and made me write a 20 page paper. My mom went up to the school, raised heck and the teacher got called on the carpet for not being sympathetic to the fact that youngsters, especially girls may not be able to do this and a 20 page report was not the answer.

DD however loved doing this in school, go figure!

 

[GoodFairies]

especially girls

 

[caitycaity]

DD however loved doing this in school, go figure!

actually (other than the smell) i loved the dissections too. we even named our fetal pig (wilbur LOL).

i really found it fascinating. when we did the fish dissections, mine had aparently died from some kind of disease and a lot of the organs were wierd. i found it really interesting.

i have to say though, i was flipping through channels a few days ago and saw a human dissection on tv and that really grossed me out.

 

[Jolie C]

If Anatomy is a required course in your daughter's high school, you might want to check into that one while you're talking to the principal about biology dissections. My Anatomy class took a field trip to a medical college and saw humans dissected. Every high school is different, though.

Same here. We saw everything and then some and two BOYS passed out.

 

[JuliaEeyore]

I'm only 27 and our high school never, ever dissected anything. I was really worried, too, because I would have been the ones boycotting. I had frogs for pets and pigs were my favorite animals. I could not have survived dissecting either, unless I wanted to be in the medical profession when I grew up. I did not.

They have amazing virtual dissection programs. When I was in college, we used these in my genetics classes. Fly ones, IIRC. I know they make them for frogs.

 

[Twinkles6892]

We had to disect frogs in 7th grade, I made my partner do it! But we HAD NO GLOVES! we were forced to touch it's tongue and the roof of it's mouth NO GLOVES!

When we have to disect stuff next year, I'm getting a boy as a partner. He can do it!

 

[chesirekate]

We dissected a pig in biology, if I recall. I don't remember anyone being excused from it, but several of the girls squealed with disgust during the actual slicing parts. Pun intended. It was actually quite interesting and I figured I was in no position to get principled because, hey, I eat bacon. But a cat? A cat I don't think I could do. I just can't even imagine it.

The only problem with the dissection for me, was the smell of the formaldehyde. Just an awful stench that is.

 

[totalia]

Disecting insects, frogs, and other small animals is part of the requirement in Sophomore year Biology class. My daughter is a Freshman now, so this will be coming up next year.

Yesterday, in Science class, her teacher casually started talking about disecting cats, (I'm not sure what started the topic), but my daughter didn't want to hear anything about it. She is an avid animal lover and a member of PETA, and can't stand the thought of anyone doing anything to harm an animal, dead or alive. When I picked her up after school she told me that she would NEVER disect an animal next year in Biology.

Has anyone had any experience with a child not wanting to do this in Biology? I like that she is sticking to her principles, but I'm not sure her teacher will.

Hmm. Well talking about dissecting cats was a mistake on the teachers part. Cats are pets and most people will never be able to see beyond that.

Explain to your daughter that the animals used for dissection in biology class are not killed only to dissect. Most of them are still born and the like. Or they are things like bugs that no one cares about anyway.

Your daughter will not get away with refusing to do it. She will at the least take an F for the behavior.

 

[Crankyshank]

We had to disect frogs in 7th grade, I made my partner do it! But we HAD NO GLOVES! we were forced to touch it's tongue and the roof of it's mouth NO GLOVES!

When we have to disect stuff next year, I'm getting a boy as a partner. He can do it!

I had the same guy for a lab partner all throughout high school biology. Great guy and really smart, but man oh man he was squeamish. I had to do the cutting on most of our dissections

 

[ashjohnson80]

Hopefully, it won't come to this, but I feel the same way. My daughter has always been an honors student, and always in the 95-99th percentile on standardized tests. She knows we expect her to maintain good grades, but in a case like this, the good grade will take a back seat.

I probably woulnd't worry too much about it if your daughter is a good student. I was always an excellent student and this really didn't effect my grades too much. I still graduated in the top 30 of my class and got college scholarships and 3 diplomas. So ya know, you just have to do what you think is right...

 

[Cindy B]

I work in a middle school, and there are a few dissections.

In 7th grade we do cow eyeballs. In 8th grade, I think they do frogs.

However, for an alternate assignment, the science teacher found an animatronic flash program, which showed the same detail but with the computer program. If you chose to do the computer route, the assignment was harder,and more intense than the actual dissection.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I didn't mind it. We did it in 8th grade and in HS.

DH loves that stuff. He had to work on cadavers and all that. I guess that's good considering his job.