Schools should ban animal dissection

At first, I do admit, I freaked out when it came to dissections. I thought I would throw up or faint or something. But, I found out that I was overreacting. The experience turned out to be fun and it taught me a lot too.

So, the idea of banning dissections seems incredulous due to the fact that most of the school population excels through kinesthetic means[1]. Kinesthetic learners are most successful when totally engaged with the learning activity.[1] So, if you take away dissections, you are taking away a child's means of learning.

A recent survey of high school teens 86% said that they did not want to participate in animal dissections and would rather use alternatives to dissection. Over 30 studies published in scientific journals have shown that alternatives to dissection are more educationally effective. Many different people such as Nancy Harrison MD, Dr Kathleen Brown agree that alternatives are better for learning. Dissection is inhumane many animals are alive when their dissected. [1] There are many alternatives to dissection included CDs and software. These CDs and software have been screened by The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and have shown to be effective. [2] Vote pro alts. are more effective.
1 animalearn.org
2 dissectionalternatives.org

I was part of that 86% and what I have to say is just give it a try. When a student is carefully monitered, they can be taught a healthy respect for life by dissecting the animal with care and dignity.

Animal dissection produces a unique experience for a student, where he gets to explore and learn from a once living organism. The experience is not soon forgotten, therefore the information learned is retained.

When you are dissecting an animal you cause extreme pain and suffering to the animal not matter what as it is living. Also, students are not trained surgeons they do not have the expertise or skill to cause as little pain as possible. Neither are most teachers for that matter.

I will say again that alternatives to dissection have been proven to be more effective than actually dissection.

I'm going to assume high school age. In high school most children do not want to be surgeons and would rather enter other fields. Schools need to adapt to the majority. A survey showed that 12% of students wanted to be doctors and of this number even less will specialize in surgery.

You don't know what a child wants to be when he grows up. I know I wanted to be a forensic anthropologist. So, anything could happen. It is the child's choice whether or not he wants to go to the medical field, so we must not rely on statistics because the next year it could be up to 60%.
I had a difficult time during dissections. Most people don't enjoy "cutting into" an animal or sifting through its insides. I would become physically ill-dizzy, sweating, light headed- totally freaked out. But it was worth it. My understanding of human body was enhanced by my experience dissecting an animal. But there are benefits through the sacrifice. So many cures and medical advancements have been made because of animal usage.

Thank you.

These statistics were from polls given to high school students. The students are suppling the results. Furthermore, we can not rely on the chance that the polls might be up to 60% because nobody can predict the future and this number could go down.

As I have said over and over again, there are alternatives which have been proven to be more effective than dissection in the educational setting.

Cures and medical advances have been made through using animals but, there have never been medical advances made, at least in my knowledge, in the high school setting using animals.