Help – How do I get out of dissecting animals in school?
So, I’ve decided to go back to school to study Nutrition/Dietetics. I’m taking Biology this semester & Anatomy & Physiology will soon follow. I know that they dissect frogs in Biology & a cat in the Anatomy class and probably some other animals I don’t know about. I am taking these classes at the local community college before transferring to a University. How do I get out of this? I’d really like to hear from anyone who has had to deal with this. Do I have any rights in this situation? My plan now is to discuss the subject with my professor. If she does not offer a solution, I can talk to the Dean, I suppose. Also, It looks like I will be taking primarily nutrition classes once I transfer. Does anyone know what other types of classes may invole dissection? This is upsetting for me - it feels like high school all over again. :(
Thanks!
i would think you can get out of it. if there is an animal rights group in your area, they can help you out a lot, talking to the teacher and dean. but i've found with friends that teachers are understanding, at least at my school. i think if you write a really good letter stating why you can not and will not dissect animals and give several affordable options with names of other colleges that offer other options and how great they have been, i think you can be successful. i wish i still had information about that. we did a big thing about getting alternative options for all classes and we got recommendations from professors from schools who only use computer based programs and they just raved about them. they loved it! if that doesnt work, forward your letter to the dean, the same letter you sent to the teacher, with their response and with another letter to the dean explaining how this teacher is not respecting your morals maybe? i bet there are several other people around that do not want to dissect. you could make flyers looking for supporters, post them, get everyone together to make a petition/letter to give to the teacher and dean.
you can do it!! good luck!
My college was considering a computer program for people who wouldn't dissect an animal. That was in the late 90s, so some colleges may have them now. The other thing is that with budget constraints, there will be at least two people per dissection. You could let your lab partner do the dissecting.
I have to dissect something in Biology 102 in the spring, (I am taking Bio 101 this fall), and I already emailed my professor asking about that. He said that they have alternate assignments if I can't/won't do the dissecting. I can't MAINLY for the fact that I will vomit...I can't stomach anything. But also, because it's just wrong. ;)b Just ask, if you haven't already.
Yes! You do not have to dissect! There are computer similators you can use, or if your school does not have that--they should be able to offer you a challenging writing assignment in lieu!
Here's a link to PETA's "Cut out Dissection" site! They can give you ideas--and defintely check to see if your college has an AR group--they will defintely ralley behind you!!
http://www.peta2.com/College/c-dissection.asp
Good luck!!!
I went to school for Nutrition/Dietetics as well. We had partners in biology and my partner did everything while I wrote notes and compared what she was saying to what was in the text. I never had to actually dissect anything. Oddly I got and A in the class and she barely passed. So how did the actual dissecting help her? :o
I am not. After feeling as though I was a fraud for learning things the usda way when I didn't agree with it...I decided to pursue an education in holistic nutrition. It is definitely more me.
I also have a bachelor in nutrition/dietetics, but am not an RD. It wasn't for me for several reasons. I feel that the mainstream field is largely a sellout to big food business (the ADA in particular will not bite the hands of the food companies that feeds it). Lots of educational literature that I've seen RDs use is put out by fast food companies, pharmaceutical companies, or food companies like Nestle or the Dairy Council....some of these materials are even used in the dietetic classroom without the bat of an eye. No one seems to see the conflict of interest.
This is not to say that I don't think that becoming an RD is a worthwhile goal. Individually, I met many RDs I admire who totally respected veganism. I think that you can have the biggest influence over the dietetic community with the RD credential--the profession would really benefit from more vegan RDs. There is a Vegetarian Practice Group of the ADA that was worth joining, back when I was a member....so you wouldn't be alone.
It was also not for me because I learned that, at least in my community, dietetics is very much about networking and "who you know," and I'm just not a social person. I wouldn't be comfortable. That is the primary reason that I didn't pursue the credential.
As for dissecting, I also have a bachelor's degree in biology and all my dissection was done in pursuit of that degree before I was vegan. I didn't like doing it but I did. Am I happy about it? Not really. Do I think I learned information that couldn't have been learned some other way? No. I think, by in large, animals use for dissection in undergraduate labs have been stored for so many years that their parts really become nearly unrecognizable anyway. For the nutrition degree, I did get to watch and touch the dissection of a human cadaver...totally interesting and completely different than the animal dissection because the person had donated their body for this purpose. It was also more relevant to the study of *human* anatomy....though I understand this is not possible for all undergraduate programs.
My college had a form in the registration materials every year giving you the option to opt out of any dissections that were part of courses, acknowledging you would be given an alternate assignment. You had to fill it out and sign it and give it to whatever professor was applicable at the beginning of the semester. I didn't take science courses so it wasn't relevant to me, but it seemed like it was no big deal to opt out of dissections.
I'm in agreement with most of the people here. The best bet to my mind is to approach your tutor or rep and talk to them about it. If they're not willing to help, write a letter and send it to a higher-up.
Thank you so much for replying HopFrog. You were very helpful. If you don't mind me asking - what do you do for a living?
Right now I'm working part time at a library reference desk--nothing to do with my education. But I'm happy. I recently found out I'm pregnant, and when the baby is born I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom. Even though I will probably never use my degrees, I still think the education was a good thing and will hopefully make me a better mom.
Good luck to you, purpledancer, whatever you decide to do!