It was a grade nine biology class and we were supposed to do dissections. The teacher announced that anyone who did not want to cut open dead animals could opt out of it if they wished. Had I not been given the opportunity, I would probably have gone through with the dissection, but on being given the chance, I opted out. But I had to remain in the classroom while others did their dissections and the image of a headless fish remains bright in my memory to this day. I just don't like seeing dismembered and disentrailed animals (for this reason I never ever watch horror movies). I guess I'm not alone. And, thanks to online simulations, thousands of students who would not have been given the choice I was given are now able to opt out completely. Good. And to the teacher who says "This is an issue of academic freedom. A well-trained teacher has the knowledge and experience to know how best to use dissection," I say this: you may know how to teach, but I have the right to control what sort of gory images are seared or not seared into my brain for the rest of my life (I wonder how many of our political beliefs as adults are created by things like experiences of dead fish in childhood).
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