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.

[Eagle Eye]

Title should be:"Girl, 16, Refuses to Perform Classwork to Gain Attention."

[Cagey]

At the high school level, I think they should stay clear of domestic animals for dissection. Being a cat lover myself, I wouldn't be comfortable dissecting one either. Pretty dumb move IMO when alternatives are available.

I have to agree with you. After all, this is High School and not a pre-med college course. I can only imagine what school boards (my damn tax money) is paying for these cat cadavers.

[DeSoto]

If she doesn't what to use a cat, offer her a compromise. Does the following article suggest an amenable solution?

Replacing lab rats with lawyers The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced last week that they were going to start using lawyers instead of rats in their experiments. Naturally, the American Bar Association was outraged and filed suit. Yet, the NIH presented some very good reasons for the switch.

1. The lab assistants were becoming very attached to their little rats. This emotional involvement was interfering with the research being conducted. No such attachment could form for a lawyer.

2. Lawyers breed faster and are in much greater supply.

3. Lawyers are much cheaper to care for and the humanitarian societies won't jump all over you no matter what you're studying.

4. There are some things even a rat won't do.

[TightSqueeze]

On the other hand now is a good time to learn an important life skill: how to suck it up and do unpleasant things that need to be done. A lot of people in this country don't know how to suck it up, this would give her a step up on the general populace.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw

[sweetliberty]

"I know a lot of freaking liberals I'd like to disect"

LOL! Wouldn't disecting their pea brains require a microscope?

[Huck]

I have seen some pretty neat aircraft simulators, too- but don't want the pilot of the next DC-10 I get on to have been trained without experience with the REAL THING!

Yeah, and hopefully his name isn't Mohammed. I understand what you mean. It comes down to the objective. If the objective is to be able to successfully dissect a cat, then the best way to teach and test the learner's performance is with a real cat. If the objective were merely to be able to identify the organs inside a cat, there are various strategies that can be used to teach and test that.

In your example, the objective is that the pilot will be able to fly a DC-10, and the only acceptable test for that skill will include actual flying. His training will include but not be limited to simulation.

And mind you, I am not condoning this girl's behavior in this situation. She is being an idiot.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Our biology class progressed from worms to frogs to fetal pigs. We dissected them all. Everybody looked forward to the pigs, so we were motivated to get done with the lower life forms. We all had names for our pigs.

It seems in poor taste to housepet type animals... you'd think the PC crowd wouldn't want to desensitize kids to the sight of cut-open cats. Was it animal cruelty awareness week?

[Cagey]

Oooops. ....what school boards (my damn tax money) is are paying....

Before I get dissected for poor grammar.

[Coeur de Lion]

They should probably stay away from animals which are traditional pets. The same reasons kids on farms are taught not to treat farm animals as pets by naming them. I don't hear much about the dissection of a euthanized Bow Wows. Pigs make some sense in that their internal anatomy is similar to humans.

[Cagey]

Replacing lab rats with lawyers

Hahahahaha!

[Trickyguy]

I don't think I could dissect a cat, either. What's wrong with using rappers?

[SamAdams76]

How can dissecting a cat be "inhumane" when it's already dead?

[discostu]

So what kind of "progress" is to be had by not having kids going in the direction of biology and anatomy (which usually means medicine) not learn to use a scalpel and forceps and all the other tools of surgery/ dissection?

[Sungirl]

What a bunch of idiots in here.....this girl should NOT HAVE TO DISSECT a cat if she isn't going into the medical field. Since when do they do this in high school!! It was VERY tough to dissect a frog years ago in High school!! They let you slide on that back then because it was too hard for may kids (like me). Dissecting a cat should NOT BE ALLOWED. A pet cat is like a baby to ALOT of people....and to ask someone to dissect it is CRUEL!

But on Monday, mother and daughter said, the teacher said she would have to dissect animals or watch dissections if she wanted to pass the class. "I don't see why it's necessary to cut animals when you don't want to go into a medical field, but have an interest in what anatomy is about," said the girl, who wants to be a defense lawyer. Her mother added: "What I want for my daughter is not to be psychologically traumatized by dissecting a cat. She should have the right to choose."

I HOPE THIS TEACHER GETS DISSECTED.

[Mr. Silverback]

What happened to worms and frogs in High School Biology class? When did they start using cats?

Sorry if this question has already been answered: High School A&P students have been using cats since when I was in High School in the late 80s.

I know Pre-Med and Nursing students have to use the real thing. What about other college majors?

[homeschool mama]

**I had that same problem also in high school also…had to settle for some less than pretty ones for a Friday night date. **

Oh you are baaaad!

I never settled for a frog...guess that's why I'm married to my prince now, eh? :o)

[Willie Green]

and her mother proposed buying software for performing simulated dissections on the computer,

Sounds like both mother and daughter need to grow up.
Computers are a great media for presenting educational information.
But it's no substitute for working on the real thing.
If Mom has any dreams at all of her precious child going to med school and becoming a doctor, they both better get over this juvenile squeamieness real quick.

[Eva]

I wasn't going to respond to this, but I changed my mind. This is stupid. It is probably the requirement of the advanced class to dissect a more advanced animal than the regular class. If the girl doesn't want to do the work, she belongs in the regular class, dissecting a frog. If she still objects, she shouldn't have taken anatomy.

This is not any different than it was when I was in high school (a long time ago).

[Sungirl]

It makes no difference WHAT animal they're dissecting, you just do it.

People are animals....they should just dissect a dead person....no diff...right? Guts are guts.

[RJayneJ]

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