Is dissection a necessary or educational exercise?
Dissection is not only unnecessary, it runs the risk of desensitizing students to the suffering of others and teaches them that animals can be used and discarded without respect for their lives. In Great Britain, dissection is being phased out of school curricula, and the right of students not to dissect is being established and upheld in the United States as well (including California). By using only humane teaching methods, instructors can teach science and ethics simultaneously.
