Commonly Asked Questions Regarding Objections to Dissection

A student does not have to kill the animal and is not responsible for its death.

There is no way to tell how the animal being dissected was treated while still alive, or in the case of the fetal pig, how the mother of that animal was treated. Objecting to dissection, for some students, means that they feel that the animal should not have been killed in the first place (without its consent, like human specimens) for the sake of education, especially when there are effective humane alternatives available.

What if students being asked to dissect refuse to because they are squeamish and think it is "yucky" ?

Students who choose to participate in an alternative often have to do more work than those dissecting the actual animal, so it is by no means an easy way out. Also, refusal to dissect is not a sign of emotional immaturity; it is not easy to go against the grain and stand up for something that you believe it wrong.

If a student does not dissect, they cannot get into medical or veterinary schools, and they will have to dissect at some point if they are going into one of those fields, so they might as well get it over with.

Many students have successfully completed vet and medical schools without having to dissect an animal. Many of the leading U.S. medical schools, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, have eliminated the animal laboratories once used for teaching. Harvard, for example, offers a Cardiac Anesthesia Practicum, in which students observe human heart bypass operations, instead of dog labs; the Harvard staff who developed it have recommended that is be implemented elsewhere.

The student may just watch while someone else dissects.

A student should not be forced to watch someone else do something that they feel is wrong. It is only when students are treated with basic respect and consideration that true learning can take place.

The professorıs academic freedom is at stake.

What really is at stake is the studentıs freedom of belief. Dissection and its alternatives are merely different methods of acquiring knowledge of anatomy and physiology; they need not interfere with a teacherıs mandate to ensure that students learn a subject.