Girl, 16, forced out of anatomy class

Baltimore Sun ^ | 9-25-2002 | Jonathan D. Rockoff

[Cagey]

A 16-year-old student at Kenwood High School who refused to dissect a cat was forced to abandon her honors anatomy and physiology class Monday, even though her mother offered to buy a computer alternative.

Jennifer Watson, an A student from Essex who cares for a pet cat named Fluffy, resisted dissection as inhumane.

The girl wanted to remain in the class, and her mother proposed buying software for performing simulated dissections on the computer, according to the girl and her mother, Maria Watson. But the teacher threatened to fail the college-bound student if she didn't participate in the dissections.

[cinFLA]

I disagree. If she doesn't want to dissect a cat they shouldn't force her to.

No one is forcing her to dissect a cat.

[cinFLA]

When did they start using cats?

When the Korean restaurant moved in down the street.

Koreans DON'T eat cats!

[ArrogantBustard]

So how many ways are there to skin a cat?

[ArrogantBustard]

Unless the student is expected to be able to use a scalpel and perform actual physical dissections.

That is part of the lesson.

[aruanan]

I design computer based instruction for a living. I have seen some pretty neat disection simulations.

Yes, but unless you're actually dissecting something, you're just watching a fancy film strip, something on the order of Debbie Dissects Dallas.

[ladyinred]

Three Cheers for this girl! At the risk of flaming, I would never do what was required of these students! I wouldn't even do frogs or worms, so you can tell I didn't take biology in high school! Good grief, I have pet frogs in my yard, and worms are great for my soil!

[discostu]

Once they're dead they're not companion animals. Of course you're also making the assumption that those cats were EVER companion animals. They could have been feral/ strays (pests), they could have been barn cats (working animals), even if they were pets their owner might have given them to science (not everybody worships dead bodies).

I notice you picked on lab rats, but some people keep rats as companion animals, you're clearly showing specist bigotry favoring animals you want as companions over others.

[discostu]

But they eat dog, the natural predator of stray cats, thusly in reducing the dog population that causewd the cat population to expand dramatically, thus necessitating drastic measures.

I kid because I love... oh and I had to sit through "diversity training" yesterday and feel a serious need to use spurious and insulting stereotypes to clense the PC BS out of my system.

[cinFLA]

But they eat dog, the natural predator of stray cats, thusly in reducing the dog population that causewd the cat population to expand dramatically, thus necessitating drastic measures. I kid because I love... oh and I had to sit through "diversity training" yesterday and feel a serious need to use spurious and insulting stereotypes to clense the PC BS out of my system.

YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT KOREA. Eating dog meat in Korea is "officially" illegal BUT the dog that is eaten are raised in kennels. In Korea, cats are strays (not dogs) and are kept around to reduce the rat population. Your insult is as bad as the PC you are digesting.

[Huck]

unless you're actually dissecting something, you're just watching a fancy film strip

You are correct that passive learning--sitting and watching--is not good enough. But some of these simulations are interactive, they provide varying levels of feedback. There is one of a frog that is quite good:

http://scienceman.org/dissection.html

Check out the one called Froguts. For some strange reason people seem to think that I believe a simulation is an acceptable substitute for other learning activities, even though I haven't said that. All I have said is that it depends what the intended outcome is. That will determine the best teaching method.

[discostu]

Chill. Just having a little fun with stereotypes (which I noted in the post were wrong BTW). Sorry you were offended, now get the chip of your shoulder, this stuff's bad for the ol ticker.

[cinFLA]

Chill. Just having a little fun with stereotypes (which I noted in the post were wrong BTW). Sorry you were offended, now get the chip of your shoulder, this stuff's bad for the ol ticker

No chip. Just a lot of Korean bashers on this board. After I noted that Koreans don't eat cat (a very simply, non-threatening post), you replied to defend your post with FALSE statements. I didn't chastise you for your original post TILL you you replied with your ignorance. It appears you are the one with the chip on your shoulder.

[discostu]

The first post wasn't mine, and I wasn't defending it. And I did note that the stereotype I was referencing was spurious (a fancy word for BS). I thought that made it pretty obvious that I knew what I was saying was untrue and exhagerated to the point of rediculousness (that's a mode of constructing humor). Then you jumped all over me. In full disclosure I've eaten dog (fed to me, knowingly they told me what was in the dish, by Mexicans), I found it kind of stringy and greasy, but pretty good. It's on the list of esoteric foods I would eat again if offered, but I wouldn't seek it.

[cinFLA]

The first post wasn't mine, and I wasn't defending it.

I stand corrected. The wording in your post was so consistent with a possible reply from the original poster that I responded without checking the name.

[Sungirl]

Ferals and strays are NOT PESTS you heartless creature. I feed ferals who are very sweet and some would be great house cats. They are mostly cats who were abandoned by heartless people. Same goes for barn cats....they are just outside cats. You're obviously ignorant of the whole thing.
Also....'lab rat' is a phrase..it could mean monkey or rabbit too. It means an animal used in labs......

[discostu]

No skin, we're cool. Any racial epithets I use are purely in jest, more intended to mock the stereotype than the people. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a multiculturalist, but I do like learning about other cultures.

[Sungirl]

WTP-->Will you stop assuming -anything- about me! You don't know squat me. Who are you anyway? I barely remember your screen name yet you seem to be able to tell everyone about me. WEIRD.

[Sungirl]

Oh jeez...don't do that..there are enough idiots here.

[discostu]

Spoken like someone who's never been growled at my a mangie cat with foam on their mouth. Strays might or might not be pests. Ferals most definitely are. What you're feeding aaren't feral cats, just to bring you on the same page here's from dictionary.com:
Feral
1. a. Existing in a wild or untamed state.
b. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication.
2. Of or suggestive of a wild animal; savage: a feral grin.

Feral animals not only ARE pests, they can be pretty damn dangerous. Obviously you're ignorant of what makes an animal a working animal. Barn cats are working animals because they have a job to do: their job is to kill mice and rats, which carry diseases that could be bad for other animals in the barn. One might grow attached to your working animals, much as one might grow attached to your employee's. But you still have to remember that they have a job to do and when they can't do that job anymore you have to let them go. That might involve retiring them to be pets, or it might mean putting the to sleep.

You're still showing specists preferences. Monkeys and rabbits are also sometimes kept as pets. And of course cats are amung the LONG list of animals that are occasionally used in the lab.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

That is weird sungirl - since you and I have even written privately about some of your bizarre rantings...... lol.....but it's ok that you claim not to remember me..... EVERYONE remembers you because you make such idiotic comments.......be careful that your rocking chair doesn't snag the tail of one of your hundreds of cats there in your apartment..........