Dear Dr. Barnard,

A year before taking the 11th grade biology course, I voiced moral and ethical concerns about dissection to my biology teacher and asked about available alternatives. Unfortunately, he told me that there was no alternative available to students at that time. My parents and I believed we could find a suitable alternative and they decided to become involved. Many of my friends do not want to perform dissections but they are often times too nervous to go to the principal. I couldn’t believe how easy it was! I found an alternative and was able to learn everything there is to know about frog anatomy without cutting up animals. I will use that knowledge in the years to come.

I plan to go into environmental biology in college and want to get the best education to prepare me for university level classes. At the university I plan to attend, dissection alternatives are freely available. I will continue to take full advantage of learning without the need to perform dissections on defenseless animals.

My principal and I decided to help my school find new technologies that could be used to teach frog and rat anatomy. I wanted to find something that would make learning easier and more fun. I also chose to pursue a dissection choice policy so that the issue of whether to dissect or not and the right to humane education is not left to the discretion of the biology teacher, but rather becomes a board policy that states students are to be given a choice. I approached my principal and gave him some feedback regarding the dissection alternative that was given to me. He requested that I research alternative methods during the summer and show them to him in the fall for approval so that they can be used if the need arises. Understandably, the school would like to obtain a program that is cost effective and affordable. I had already presented him with virtual dissections that are used in other high schools and now, my school is considering implementing them.

Sincerely,

Kerrie