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

[momsgonwild]

I didn't have this problem with my DS's, but with myself when I was in high school.
I have a very queasy stomach when it comes to seeing the insides of some poor creature. I did pretty good on the earthworm, but the frog and cat were a disaster.
Much to my male teachers chagrin, I cried and cried every time I would come into the room. He finally told me that if I would sit down, and just attempt to watch the dissection, he would give me a passing grade. Well, I almost made it to my stool, and guess what happened, I threw up all over my Biology teachers feet. He was really sweet and understanding. He took me outside of the classroom, and gave me water and a wet towel. He told me he would give me a "B", if I just wouldn't come into the classroom, and throw up anymore. He sent me next door to the Algebra class for a couple of days. I copied my lab partners notes, and aced the exam. I was so proud when it was time to move up to Chemistry the following semester. LOL

 

[aprilgail2]

This is really OT, but why are you cooking meat for your DD when you are a vegetarian? We're meat eaters (Atkins is a great diet for us ), but my DD is a vegitarian. Since we eat meat, we tried to get her to also eat meat. I just can't see doing that if I didn't eat meat already!
QUOTE]

Well I feel its up to her to decide if she wants to eat meat or not. ...just because I don't like meat doesn't mean she shouldn't have the chance to try it and like it if she wanted to.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

yep..that was me my senior year of high school--anatomy class...we did the chicken wing from the grocery store,,cow eye, sheep brain and a frog.i hated it all but had to do it

 

[battricia]

i actually knew quite a few guys in highschool that refused to disect. They were all vegetarian. Luckily I didn't have to (We disected flowers instead! ). I did have to disect a worm when I was in 8th grade, but that was before I became vegitarian.

tricia.

 

[chrissyk]

What does your daughter want to do with her life? Because there is a ton of money in science, I think girls can really make names for themselves there, I don't think most of the doctors, nurses, vet techs, laboratory scientists, chefs and butchers in the world necessarily knew that was the career path for them all the way back in ninth grade. I assume that with "She has no interest in pursuing a career that would involve using a scalpel for any reason," your daughter doesn't like science. That's too bad. I find that most girls who say that they don't like science were never encouraged in it by their mothers and teachers, were never told that they were good at it. English, communications, the more "feminine" pursuits - they go that way instead - and the career opportunities there are much narrower and less lucrative. A girl who likes science and math and can simultaneously communicate and write can name her price in the professional world. Perhaps "get a life" was a little harsh on the part of my mother. But this was the gist of what she was trying to tell me.

I'm a female engineer, so I have to concur with the above post. How can a 9th grader know that they don't want to have a career in the sciences? As a 9th grader, I had no clue what I wanted to be. I think that it's the rare 9th grader who does have direction about this. Please don't let your child rule out the sciences at such a young age! Science and engineering are wonderful fields for anyone, but women especially really can write their own tickets in these fields

I was an idiot of an 11th grader. I decided not to take math that year, because I'd satisfied my graduation requirement already and some dumb college counselor told me that I was bad at math/science and good at English. My dad set me straight, and I doubled-up on my math classes my senior year. The same moron college counselor told me I should be a college English major, and that I would not succeed in engineering. She made me angry enough to major in engineering AND graduate in only 3 years to boot. There are a lot of roadblocks for women in engineering and the sciences, and I found that most of them were placed there by other "well-meaning" women like my loser college counselor. Women need to mentor and encourage other young women to pursue careers in the sciences and engineering. I am so passionate about this that I am going to become a high school math teacher after our move to FL.

For the record, I don't have the stomach to dissect anything. That didn't stop me from pursuing a very lucrative career as an engineer, though. There is more to engineering and the sciences than majors that involve a scalpel, LOL!

 

[BeamsofLight]

Please don't let your child rule out the sciences at such a young age! Science and engineering are wonderful fields for anyone, but women especially really can write their own tickets in these fields
For the record, I don't have the stomach to dissect anything. That didn't stop me from pursuing a very lucrative career as an engineer, though. There is more to engineering and the sciences than majors that involve a scalpel, LOL!

Since this has come up, and as I posted before that I didn't do the dissection in grade 10, I would like to mention that I went on to get a degree in atmospheric science (extensive math and physics). I met with some opposition, particularly in high school with old-school types who thought women and science don't mix. It saddens me that this still goes on.

I would also encourage the OP (and anyone else to whom it might apply) to continue to encourage her daughter to take math and science courses throughout high school. I didn't really settle on what I wanted to pursue in university until my last year in high school. Don't let her rule out science just because she doesn't care for biology (or dissection, specifically). Speaking as a female scientist, I can say there definitely aren't enough of us out there.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

My DD had to write a report and work on some model so she would not have to do this . Her teacher told her she respected her choice and gave the other assignment.

 

[browneyes]

2 of my bestest friends in high school were stuck having me as their lab partner in Biology. They were so happy after they found out I wasn't squimish, because they knew they were. I was the "surgeon" at the table. They'd talked about protesting having to dissect, but at our hs, we had to work in groups in Biology. As long as someone in the group dissected, everyone got the same grade.

 

[Kallison]

I work with 7th graders and the frog dissection is amazing. I highly recommend that any squeamishness be gotten over, it is a fantastic learning experience. I thought I would be yucky, but after a few dozen, I just dive right in there! Our school district has a policy, the child can simply state they don't want to do it and bring in a signed parental note. Frankly I would not want to dissect a cat either, too warm and fuzzy.

 

[jacksonsmom]

I refused to dissect a frog in 8th grade. My parents totally backed me up as it was my opinion & belief.
My science teacher wasn't too understanding, he gave me a lot of grief over it but I STOOD my ground & refused.
I was excused that day to the library were I had to do a report on frogs.

 

[epcotfan]

Cats are pets and most people will never be able to see beyond that.

Exactly. There is no way I would have been able to handle working on a dead cat.

 

[Teejay32]

I loved Biology class. My favorite. I remember having those labs once a month and do remember a worm and a frog, but not much else...I think I would have remembered a cat or a pig. Guess we didn't do those. It never crossed my mind to try to get out of it, but then...my family is in the funeral business. My stepdad has a wonderfully weird sense of humor and he was an embalmer for years. I'll leave it at that.

My older DD is a different story, and I imagine her in the future loving Biology as well, but hating and/or refusing the dissections. I figure I'll just try to stay out of it if possible...

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

My DD has biology this year as well. In the beginning of the year when there was Open House at school I asked the biology teacher if the student didn't want to dissect something, would they receive an "F". The teacher said as long as the student participates with other aspects of the dissection and not the action of dissection, then the student would receive a passing grade.

 

[caitycaity]

I was actually saddened to see cinderellaIam's above post stating that "especially girls" may not be able to dissect.

ditto. i also agree with a lot of what dana says.

i was one of those girls who wasn't encouraged to do math or the more math-y sciences. it wasn't my parents who were discouraging, it was teachers. as a result i never took physics or calculus in high school. i figured - hey i'm going into social science - i don't need it.

it's funny though, just the other night my dh and i were talking about something semi-related and i was talking about maybe auditing some undergrad calc/physics classes this summer. i feel like i really missed out on a lot (dh is a math/science nerd and we have discussions about it frequently - the stuff he has taught me about calc and physics is very interesting to me).

and a word of warning: you never know when you will need those math and science skills even if you are in social science. i'm currently in a MA program in political science and we have to take a lot of stats. i've always like stats but i was at a serious disadvantage in one of my stats classes because i didn't have any exposure to calc. i had to spend a lot of extra time with my dh (who fortunately for me was happy to help) going over stuff.

 

[phillybeth]

I was glad my lab partner in high school wanted no parts of the dissections! That meant I got to do it all myself.

I was very lucky in two things- I went to an all-girls high school, and I had a wonderful biology teacher who was my mentor and role model. He really encouraged all his students to excel in the sciences, we did so many fun experiments. You could tell he loved science and he loved to teach. It came through in everything he did, and he showed us there was more that you could do with an interest in science other than nursing (not that there's anything wrong with that, but girls interested in science used to automatically equal a career in nursing). There were a few of my classmates who decided on careers in science after taking his class. I am forever grateful to him- he never made us feel that just because we were girls we couldn't or shouldn't do certain things.

 

[Jeanny]

Way, way, way back when I was in the 10th grade, we had to do dissections also. My Mom let me go in late the day we were doing the frogs, but I did the worm...wasn't happy about it, but I did it. To this day, I still don't see the point of having to dissect a poor kitty cat or piggy..that totally grosses me out.

At my college, the refrigerator holding the monkey brains broke down and they had to evacuate the building from the smell!!! The Biology dept used to also have the monkey & sheep's brains shipped UPS...I never wanted to even touch the pails when I had to check them in!!!

 

[caitycaity]

To this day, I still don't see the point of having to dissect a poor kitty cat or piggy..

it's because they have systems more like that of humans than worms, fish, frogs, etc.

i know with the fetal pigs they were already dead - it's not like they had been killed just for us to dissect.