Forgive Me Froggy, For I Have Sinned October 14, 2007
Posted by Pulin Modi | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack
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Dissection frogs animal rights
When I was younger I was real big into science. I wanted to eventually be a brain surgeon, in fact! So I tried to do really well at math and biology in school. I'll be modest, but tell you I wasn't too shabby. I got pretty decent grades, read the "Science Times" section of The New York Times every Tuesday, and all sorts of stuff like that.
Being the particularly motivated person I was, I decided to take some extracurricular course to pursue my interest in science and biology. Oh yes, here's where it gets nasty. So every Saturday or Sunday (I forget which, but surely a non-soccer game day) for a few months I would wake up early, have my parents take me to some nearby school, and partake in a dissection course! I was probably like ten years old, but somehow found it exciting to wake up early and cut up dead animals!
I clearly remember the gagging stench of formaldehyde, the alien feel of latex gloves on my fingers, the sound of the scalpel cutting into animals' flesh, and the way the t-pins stretched the incisions in the skin to reveal some poor creature's organs. I remember the worm, the frog, the squid whose ink sack I cut open, the shark whose eyeball I cut out and rolled around the table, and the tiny piglet—all of whom deserved a life of their own.
As much as I remember all the gross things about the course, I can honestly say that I cannot remember learning a single useful thing about biology. I didn't learn to respect life. I didn't learn anything about the lives these animals would have led. You know what, I had even converted to vegetarianism by then, but hadn't made the connection yet that these animals had to be killed for me to slice open. These were carcasses of once living animals, and my desire to study and respect life was not at all consistent with helping to fund their deaths.
While I still read the "Science Times", love learning about biology, and genuinely have an interest in studying animals, I'm at a point where I can look at dissection from my experiences and admit that I made a huge mistake. And now I don't want anyone else to make the same mistakes as I did.
Don't get me wrong, even if someone is at the university level, the alternatives are really astounding and easy to get. Just click here to see what I mean if you're in college or worried about having to dissect after high school.
Please pledge not to dissect. Please spread the word to your friends. Please watch this video.
To all the poor froggies and other animals who I have cut up as a student, please forgive me.
The future of science is in learning with humane, cutting edge alternatives and then working through internships, residencies, and such hands-on learning experiences with professionals in the field when the time is appropriate. I am trying my best now to tell other students to choose alternatives rather than cruel animal dissections. I want the animals to rest in peace.
Comments
I'm proud to say that I have never dissected any animals throughout my school experiences.
I think I got it from my mom... When she was in high school, she walked out of class and failed that section of the course when she was supposed to dissect a frog.
When I was in grade eight, my class was supposed to dissect a cow's eyeball; and, I distinctly remember refusing. I ended up spending most of that class in the bathroom because I knew that it was wrong and I wanted no part in it.
In grade nine --which was the year when I became a vegetarian--, my teacher sprung a frog dissection on us, and again I absolutely refused to do it. In fact, my teacher almost failed me for that section of the course before deciding I could do a research project instead.
I was abhorred by the fact that some people were playing with the dead frogs as I left the classroom to start on my project. I would've taken an F over the dissection anyways...
Three other people from my class stood up and refused to do the dissection as well; and, we all went to the library to get started on our research projects.
I graduated this past June, and I've never come up against any more problems with dissection.
I took Earth Science instead of Biology. (=
i am totally against disection and I think if you don't want to do it there is no way they(the teachers) can make you.
Posted by: kaylen at October 16, 2007 2:14 PMPost a comment
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I did a frog dissection when I was younger. Looking back, I feel bad about it, and would like to apologize to those frogs. I also would like to say I'm sorry for using mice to do a science experiment. I didn't learn anything from dissection or that experiment, and I really regret it. And I thought I liked animals back then. I was ignorant about animal cruelty, but I'm glad to have changed my ways.
Posted by: sarah at October 15, 2007 3:35 PM