The only thing I ever dissected for a science course and I think I actually did it in middle school was a frog and to be honest, I wasn't really bothered by it. Ours was covered in formadehyde though so all it really smelled of was that and not really dead frog..., but I figured that if the frog was already dead it'd more than likely just be thrown away and wasted if it wasn't used.

I do not however agree with vivisection in any form and would walk out if I was ever in a situation where I was forced to do that, performing on live animals is not something I'd ever think I could condone with on a personal moral level.

Mercy. That's horrible :( even worse that they -made- you guys do it.

I remember high school biology... I hated the dissections, I totally understand. I think that the reason people view abortion as wrong is cause it's 'human' life. The majority of people don't veiw animals with the same standards. They will say 'it's just an animal.' I mean people will rush to help move a human corpse off the side of the road, but most people won't blink at cats or dogs. It's the sad reality of life. We didn't use to have pet cemeteries till someone started.

Even if you get your pets ashes there is a high chance its not JUST your pet's ashes that are in the box. It's in human nature to view animals as beneath us. I however do not have such views. Animals are people too they just don't think like us, BUT they do remember. Hurt an animal and it loses it's trust in you and will act differently towards you. I almost wish I could have a talk with your librarian.

That's really sad. I would never dissect and entire animal, especially not a baby one. My friend's sister had a similar story, in her college bio course she had to dissect either a baby piglet or a cat. It would kill me to dissect a cat, I mean, it could have been someone's pet at some point. It's just not right.

On the other hand I'm not so against dissecting cow hearts or eyes, because that's stuff that would have been thrown away anyway, and at least the meat is being used for food. You can't do anything with cat meat or piglet meat, it's just a waste of animal life.

so i shouldn't be allowed to be in a class and learn about my systems and photosynthesis and cellular respiration simply because i don't believe in cutting open a pig? :P there's more to bio than just the dissections.

I got lucky and never had to dissect an animal. I wouldn't like it too much either, don't worry. I probably wouldn't mind as much if I knew the animal was going to die anyway and that its life wasn't sacrificed JUST for the purpose of cutting it open, you know what I mean? But either way, I'd still be pretty... I dunno, either grossed out or emotional. But I can kind of see where your teacher is coming from... if your major has a lot to do with Biology, or if you're aspiring to be something in this field, why would you sign up for a class that you figured would have you do something like that if you couldn't handle it? But, if it's just a random class you have and your major/dream career has nothing to do with it, then... screw her. xD If she gives you hell about it, talk to your principal or someone like that, and have them talk to her about it.

In high school I had marine biology and I dissected a starfish, squid, perch (type of fish), and my favorite, a shark. Forgot what kind of shark it was, but it wasn't all that big. It was only about 2 to 3 feet long. My partner and I had a female shark. We spent most of our time on the shark and by the end of it the class was really smelly.