Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Classroom dissection is an outdated practice still taught in many schools worldwide and is used to teach students about anatomy and physiology. Approximately 10 million animals are used for classroom dissection exercises annually in the US alone.

Rats, mice, frogs, worms, pigs, and sheep are often used, and many of the animals used are either bred specifically for this purpose or are captured from their natural environment and killed. Some are even taken from animal shelters.

(Pictured: A dissected pregnant female rat, who was carrying 11 babies.)⁠

Simply put, this practice is obsolete and unnecessary.

If one does wish to teach or learn from dissection, there are online virtual dissection tools available to educate about various anatomical and physiological processes. It is entirely possible for students of all education levels to learn anatomy and physiology from these tools—in addition to textbooks, human simulators, and clinical experience.

In fact, students often feel uncomfortable with these types of lessons and could face possible mental trauma.

It is well within a student’s rights to speak up against dissection in their classroom, with many schools having dissection-choice policies, meaning that students can refuse to take part without being penalized. Furthermore, studies have shown that there is no difference in achievement between students who dissect and those who do not.

Nedim C. Buyukmihci, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine, says the following:

“As one who did not dissect in high school—and who now is a veterinarian and trains doctors-to-be—I can unequivocally state that the experience of dissection is totally unnecessary for the biologically minded pre-college student.”

We should not be forcing others to suffer in the name of education, especially when the “education” is completely unnecessary.⁠⁠

My comment: If we take into account that today we do everything we want with animals, nobody believes that even a single dissection takes place ONLY to animals who have died peaceful or naturally!

In that sense, this learning method should be prohibited, not only because it is outdated, but because it causes suffering and death for millions of animals.

My best regards to all, Venus

Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional |