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

I disagree. If she doesn't want to dissect a cat she should not take a course that requires dissecting a cat.

Drew Garrett

Trouble is, with the alternatives currently available, there's no legitimate reason for high school kids to be doing dissections. They've still got a heck of a lot to learn before lack of real dissections will hinder their learning. And making this a routine class requirement is disturbing to many students, and may nudge the opposite type of kid along the road to abusing live animals.

I recall a friend of mine from a big Catholic high school telling about how boys in her class got a kick out of stuffing cat parts down girls' shirts, and other "pranks" which involved using the dead animal to upset other people -- sounds to me like a first step to bigger "pranks" in which live animals are used to get people more upset.

High school kids are immature, and these dissections probably interfere with learning more than enhance it. The time to start dissections of anything beyond a bug or planarium(sp?) is in advanced undergraduate biology classes, where the students are all serious aspiring scientists, and have a real need to do dissections to prepare them for their careers in research and medicine. Until then, they can certainly use videos, computer simulations, and plastic models.