Policy coming on dissection in schools

Burnaby Newsleader
February 24, 2010
Wanda Chow

Lesley Fox of the Fur Bearer Defenders says there are alternatives to animal dissections for high school science classes like virtual dissections using computer programs or websites.

Burnaby school board agreed in a 3-2 vote Tuesday to create a formal policy giving students a choice if they don’t want to perform animal dissections in high school science classes.

The move came after a presentation by animal rights advocate Lesley Fox and representatives from the BC SPCA.

In an earlier interview, Fox, of www.frogsarecool.com, said she remembers being troubled in Grade 10 after having to dissect a pig fetus.

“I knew this animal was killed specifically for the purpose of me and my friends to cut it up. It didn’t make me feel good.”

Fox, now 35, also didn’t like how some classmates disrespected the dead animal, throwing parts around the room and goofing off.

“It’s all kind of like playtime, and then it all goes into the garbage.”

By the time she had to dissect a frog in Grade 12, she had the strength to speak up and refuse the assignment. She ended up in the library, researching and drawing diagrams about the subject instead.

Still, “it’s not easy to be singled out.”

So when her website received emails last fall from two Burnaby high school students seeking advice on how to avoid the dissection assignments, she figured it was time to seek a formal policy on the matter in the district.

Students told Fox the current practice, of giving students a choice, really depends on whether a particular science teacher is open to it. If they’re not, students are too intimidated to speak out, she said. That will continue until a formal policy is in place to back up the students.

Fox advocates for alternatives, such as computer software programs that simulate dissections, and noted that less than one per cent of high school students go on to medical or veterinary schools and actually derive a direct benefit from the dissection experience. And even universities are starting to move away from dissecting real animal specimens.

Despite that, Fox stressed that a policy in high schools doesn’t exclude anyone from performing dissections as usual. It simply gives alternatives to those who have concerns with it.

Currently, such policies are in place in schools in Vancouver, Kelowna, Toronto and in some districts in Nova Scotia.

Board chair Diana Mumford and trustee Tony Coccia opposed the Burnaby motion which was supported by trustees Baljinder Narang, Ron Burton and James Wang. Trustee Gary Wong and board vice-chair Larry Hayes were absent.

Mumford said she did not support it because students she spoke with at the District Student Advisory Committee told her it was a non-issue and that they already knew they had a choice. District staff also told her it wasn’t an issue.

She was particularly opposed to having a group from outside the district wanting to create policy in Burnaby schools.

“I guess I was disturbed that we ... weren’t trying to do this because of people in our community and need in our community. It was an outside issue.

“You can create a lot of policy that will never see the light of day.”