So today my class and all the other grade eight classes did a dissection of a cow’s eye, we split into groups of two or three to examine the different parts of the eye. In some of the other classes people were crying and some even vomited at the sight of the eye, in my class all was well but it brought up my attention. My teacher is respectful of people’s feelings towards the dissection, you got to choose if you wanted to dissect, help or just watch and you did have permission to leave the classroom if you felt nauseous, sick or just plain did not feel comfortable doing the dissection. I am not sure if this is the case for any other schools or if it is the regulations among the Calgary school board.
You see I am not one to be excited over opening up a dead cow’s eye to take a look inside, so I just watched. I did not want to be in the room because I am not very comfortable knowing that a cow has been killed for these purposes however, I did know that it was a pretty rare experience and still part of my science curriculum so I managed through it. That was not the case with others I know, some did not watch at all.  So this got me thinking, what are your opinions on dissections within school?
In my opinion, what my teacher did is the best thing you can do, you shouldn’t have to ban dissections but you shouldn’t force people to do them. It should be an optional  learning experience with a milder side project if you choose not to do the dissection. I am talking though the bigger dissections such as frogs and cow eyes, not ones such as owl droppings or things like that.
Please feel free to express your opinions in the comments about school dissections or even argue with mine, it is for the love of science after all!
Grade eight! Good times! Personally the labs I did in Science 9 and 10 were pretty bleh compared to the dissection labs; we’ll see after I finish Chemistry 20 this semester. Biology is all about dissections though.
I remember the year we dissected sheep eyes everyone was so pumped and nobody chose to not do the lab. I think your teacher’s actions were good practice though; it’s a little overwhelming for some people. *thumbs up*
There has been great debates regarding this subject. I personally love dissections, and in Biology 20 and 30, we did a dissection of a pig’s heart and of a fetal pig. Knowing that they are for scientific and learning purposes, our teacher made sure to reinforce strict rules during the dissection; in the scientific community, organisms are emphasized to be treated with respect as well. I really like your blog post in that it rises awareness about the malpractice and misuse of the lives sacrificed for the advancement of science. I think the majority of schools are well aware of the matter and strive for the comfort of students in making dissections an optional experience. However, without these hands-on dissections, how will we be able to experience the complexities and the intriguing side of science? How are we to inspire those who would – one day perhaps – pursue the medical field of science? It’s worth a deliberation.
I definitely agree with both of you.
Perhaps in the mere future there will be a high school dissection course, devoted to the wonderful world of examining the body parts of animals? I think that would be a great compromise.
Oooo, I remember grade eight! I actually just watched as well. When we dissected a frog, I went out of the classroom. Not because I was afraid or left nauseous, but just because I didn’t feel that it was right to kill something for this. My teacher did the same thing with our class except for the fact that I was the only one who shied away ;P We should online dissections or something like that. I’m doing Bio 20 AP next year and I really don’t want to dissect pigs, rats or sheep hearts like my friends have!