About six million animals are dissected in U.S. schools. These costs are borne by schools. Many alternatives, which can be used for years by an unlimited number of students, are much less expensive. The hundreds of dollars saved each year can help fund other student needs and activities. Biology courses are intended to expose students to useful concepts and stimulate an interest in the life sciences, but dissections can interfere with these goals.
Dissection devalues life and teaches insensitivity by treating living beings as disposable objects.
Because so many students in high schools and elementary schools have refused to dissect, the right to refuse has been established in many schools across the country. At your school, you may be that person. It is not always easy to set a precedent, but it is well worth taking that first step. One of the most important things you can do is to assert your right to an education which does not violate your principles. Remember, many medical schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia Universities, have eliminated the animal laboratories which were once used for teaching.