Dissection: What Are We Teaching the Next Generation?
By Meghan LeonPVPHS class of 06
Every second, of every day, of every year, an animal dies in the United States from laboratory testing. Because of the population's cowardly and barbaric ways, millions of defenseless animals die every year. What's worse is that few people think twice about it. Not only are these animals killed, they are tortured as well, fed almost nothing, and never allowed to see the light of day. Teaching adolescents these practices through laboratory exercises such as dissection is absolutely horrible. There are many other ways, such as computer programs or models, to teach teens these same exact things.
At Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, first-year biology students are expected to dissect a fetal pig. Imagine living in a warehouse your entire life, breathing feces, packed like a sardine. Knowing you are pregnant, and then knowing you are going to die. One might think that pigs are primitive creatures, and don't have these feelings, but they do. Pigs are more intelligent than dogs, and have more complex feelings than dogs. The fetal pigs that PVPHS dissect come from mothers who were murdered in a slaughterhouse. The murderer, not knowing she was pregnant, removes the baby. Most fetuses are burned, while a small percentage is sent to scientific retailers, where they are sold to schools like Peninsula.
The problem here begins with the slaughterhouse. If they would do the simple task of adequately separating males and females, this disgusting act would never occur. Why should the miracle of life begin its course if it isn't even going to make it out of the womb? The Food and Drug Administration allows this because it brings them profits. Each fetal pig the slaughterhouse sells makes money. People in the meat industry need to open their eyes and realize what they are doing to these animals.
Dissection should not be part of the biology curriculum. Teaching dissection is teaching kids how to cut open meek animals and poke around at their insides. Do you really think teens are in it for anything else? It's not like they can tell the difference between the internal organs any ways. Most teenagers would be very happy to take dissection off the list of things to learn in biology.
Every second, of every day, of every year, an animal dies, independent of slaughterhouses and natural deaths. These animals are tortured. I do not support teaching these things to my generation. In my opinion, these practices are outdated and barbaric. There are virtual simulations, models and diagrams that could be used in place of dissection. School districts need to come to grips with modern times, and realize what they are teaching their students: murder.