Oh, The Joy of Biology Class

I will be the first to say that I love biology. I love studying the various aspects of life and gaining a greater understanding of it. I love how biology tends to be a more hands on science, with lots of use of microscopes and labs. However, there is one thing and one thing only that truly makes me cringe whenever I think of biology; dissection.

Honestly, I understand that not everyone has the same ethical views of animals. There is nothing that can be done to change that, I've accepted it. One thing I will not accept however, is compromising my own personal morals to satisfy someone else. Starting Monday, my biology class is going on a bit of a "dissecting spree" as part of our ecology unit.

I understand that certain people feel this is a learning experience, I'm sure it is. I, however, don't agree with it, and I don't think a school should legally be allowed to obligate students to perform actions they feel are unethical. I'm not opposed to dissection because I think it's "gross" or something fickle like that, it truly, morally offends me. I don't think humans have the right to breed animals in labs, deprive them of their natural environment and make their only purpose in life to die. That's cruel to me.

I can learn the same material from a book. All year, we've learned things from pictures, diagrams and books. It works, having visual aids is nice of course, but I don't think they should cost another organism it's life. Not to mention that the majority of high school students will not even have a biology related career. This is a useless assignment.
I'm refusing to do my dissection. As of now, I have a 4.0 grade point average for this year. I have a 98% in my biology class. If I don't do these dissections, that will go down to around a 70%, assuming I do everything else in class perfectly. I would be willing to do any alternative assignment my teacher offered me, no matter how difficult or time consuming, but she won't provide me with one. I believe shes trying to scare me into dissecting.

It won't work. I'm not going to do something I'm so opposed to. I'm not going to do something I feel is inhumane and unethical. I'm not going to do something that offends me just for a science grade. I have respect for all living things. I work at an animal shelter, I don't eat animals, and I don't wear them. Why should I have to dissect them?
Posted on February 20th, 2008 at 09:47pm

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