Lesley Fox says students should be given a handbook or course outline describing their right to refuse to participate in dissection classes. Photo: Dan Toulgoet

To dissect or not to dissect? A question for trustees to ponder

Vancouver Courier
Jan 12, 2005
By Naoibh O'Connor
Staff writer

Lesley Fox hasn't been in high school for more than a decade, but she can't shake some nasty memories.

They date back to Grade 11 biology class in Ontario when she was assigned to dissect a fetal pig. The conflict was clear-Fox loved science, but she also believed in animal rights.

Although she didn't want to complete the assignment, the now 29-year-old vegan felt powerless to object.

"I remember what it smelled like, but I didn't speak up. I didn't say anything," she recalled. "It was presented as part of the course-I didn't know about alternatives."

A similar dilemma arose in Grade 12, when Fox felt compelled to take part in a frog dissection.

Now a public relations student at BCIT, the East Side resident is determined to help other teens avoid such ethical predicaments. On Wednesday, she'll ask the Vancouver School Board's education and student services committee to consider a "student choice policy" to put the onus on schools and teachers to provide alternatives to dissection.

It would also force schools to warn students about their options verbally and in writing.

According to Fox, the Ministry of Education allows students who don't want to dissect animals to watch video dissections, take part in virtual dissections or conduct library research, but such options are at the discretion of the school or teacher.

"What's so important about a student choice policy is it shouldn't get to the point where students are in tears," Fox said, stressing the potential ethical or religious objections to the practice.

The social activist, who belongs to several organizations including the Vancouver Humane Society, Fur-Bearers Defenders and Amnesty International, argues computer programs like Digital Frog and Dissection Works are acceptable, educationally sound substitutes for the real thing.

Stuart Mackinnon, vice-president of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers' Association, said his organization doesn't have a position on Fox's proposal yet but it would seek reaction from members after she presents it.

Mackinnon said the biology assignment is meant to give students the feel of a specimen and hands-on experience about what they read in their textbooks.

Dissections are completed in Grade 11 and 12 biology courses and usually start with worms. Classes then move on to frogs and later to fetal pigs.

"Any student who requests can opt out," said Mackinnon, who's never heard of any complaints-at least from someone within the school district.

Although he's familiar with virtual dissection programs, he said few school laboratories have computers. Students could go to a library, but they'd lose the benefit of a teacher being present.

Mackinnon said the Ministry of Education requires high school biology students to "demonstrate a safe and correct dissection technique," which he's not sure is possible on a computer.

Randy Clark, principal at Britannia Secondary, said students must feel free to talk to their teachers about the issue, and that teachers are usually willing to discuss alternatives to dissections with students.

"We say to students if there's something that goes on in your classroom or happens to you that you find uncomfortable, we encourage you to say so to an adult, your counsellor, the administration or your parents," he said. "We're all working together."

Clark noted dealing with individual students who don't want to participate in assignments like dissection is relatively easy, but a whole class opting out would be difficult to handle.

Fox is pitching a sample policy that would see students informed in writing, through student handbooks or course outlines at the beginning of each semester, about their right to choose not to dissect. They would be informed a minimum of three weeks prior to the dissection.

Clark said such requirements might be too rigid.

"The whole intent of this is to present opportunities for students to voice their opinions and their concerns, to be able to do so in a respectful way and to have them addressed in a respectful way. I hope that happens in all schools."

If the Vancouver School Board approves Fox's proposal, it would become the second district in Canada to do so, according to her research. The other is South Shore, Nova Scotia. Several states in the U.S. have adopted student dissection choice policies.