Inspiring student success story - dissection

[Guest guest]

inspiring student success story - dissection

26 Sep 2002 11:08:51 -0700

 

 

Hi everyone.

 

Here is an incredibly positive example of how one

student can bring about change.

 

Apologies for some repetition for those of you who

already know the beginning of this story.

 

Last week in Baltimore, USA, 11th grade honor student

Jennifer Watson was told she'd have to either perform

or directly observe a cat dissection in her Kenwood

SHS human anatomy and physiology class. No

alternatives were allowed by her teacher Gary Lay. She

was forced to leave the class and take Earth Sciences,

a subject that held comparatively little interest for

her and was not an honors subject. Watson, who aims to

enter law school, cares for a companion cat and is

unwilling to harm animals during her education.

 

On Tuesday September 24th 2002 she was forced to

testify before the Baltimore County Public Schools

Board of Education to request that her conscientiously

held beliefs be respected. Her mother, Maria Watson,

also spoke and presented a petition signed by over

1,000 people in support of her daughter. I, Dr. Lesley

King from HSUS and representatives of two local animal

right groups also testified, presenting information

about humane alternatives, the scientific studies

demonstrating that students using them perform at

least as well as those trained via harming animals,

the constitutional First Amendment rights of students

not to be penalized for their beliefs, and the

alternatives available through our alternatives

libraries The Science Bank (Animalearn) and the Humane

Education Loan Program - HELP (HSUS). We were very

gratified to be told afterwards by a Board member that

" our points would have gone a long way with this

Board " .

 

We were all told afterwards by Ron Barnes, the Science

Coordinator for the Baltimore County Public Schools

system, that the spirit of their policy was that

alternatives should be provided to all students, and

that he would contact all science departments to

ensure that all science teachers knew of this.

 

Animalearn and HSUS put out media releases and this

issue generated intense local media interest. The

Board hearing was well attended by the media and about

50 interested onlookers. The next morning a peaceful

demonstration of about 20 people outside the school

was also attended by reporters. During the

demonstration Jennifer was told by William Lawrence,

the Executive Director of Schools for the North East

area, that:

 

- The school had purchased dissection CD ROMs,

- Jennifer would be allowed back into her anatomy and

physiology class and would allowed to use them instead

of dissecting,

- Any student who requested alternatives to dissection

would be provided with them.

 

Since then several other students have expressed

interest in joining Jennifer, and the school is now

considering setting up a separate anatomy and

physiology class for students who don't wish to

dissect.

 

Local media coverage to date has included:

 

Channel 2 (ABC), Channel 11 (NBC), Channel 13 (WJZ),

Fox 45 (WBFF) and cable Channel 73 TV stations,

 

WBAL radio,

 

East County Times, The Avenue and The Baltimore Sun.

 

The latter is the major newspaper in the region and

has published 3 strories in 2 days on the issue,

including on the front page of its Maryland Section,

with a photo. The URLs are:

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.dissect25sep25.story

Girl, 16, forced out of anatomy class, "

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-dissection25,0,2329561.story?

coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dheadlines

 

" Kenwood High student allowed back in anatomy class, "

 

Excerpt:

 

" Jennifer will be provided with a computer program

that allows her to participate in the dissection

exercise, said Charles Herndon, a spokesman for the

Baltimore County school system.

 

The program will be available to any student who

objects to performing a real dissection for moral or

ethical reasons, Herndon said.

 

" We have agreed to reinstate Jennifer in the class,

and we are committed to offering whatever alternative

to dissection she needs to participate in the class, "

Herndon said. "

 

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.protest26sep26,0,7161906.story

?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dheadlines

 

" Student allowed back into anatomy class. "

 

Excerpt:

 

" Douglas J. Neilson, chief communications officer for

the school system, said it has had a policy of giving

students alternatives to dissection, but Watson's

teacher believed dissecting was crucial to learning

about anatomy and physiology.

 

Neilson said the school system will make sure that

biology and anatomy teachers systemwide know they must

offer a choice. And every student in Kenwood High's

anatomy class will be given the option of using the

CD-ROM.

 

" We have the CD ready to go, and we have our plans in

place, and we can deliver a good program, " said Diane

Goldian, principal of Kenwood High. " We will give this

option to other students. " "

 

As always seems to occur in cases like this Jennifer

is experiencing both support and hostility from other

students, and rudeness from her teacher Gary Lay.

However Kenwood Assistant Principal Ms. Zavetz has

requested a meeting with Jennifer's mother and has

assured her she will do whatever it takes to help

Jennifer if she has ANY trouble with her transition

back into her class.

 

 

One of our objectives now will be to lobby the Board

of Education to insert wording into its policy stating

that students MUST be provided with alternatives to

dissection, vivisection or other harmful animal usage,

and to ensure that all teachers are informed of this

in writing.

 

We will soon prepare a letter writing briefing and I

ask that you write a short letter in support of this

when the time comes.

 

The result of this case has been that Jennifer has

overcome the complete opposition of her teacher, will

be provided with humane alternatives, and has achieved

mass media coverage in the Baltimore area alerting

other students to the fact that they can also request

humane alternatives.

 

Jennifer has never done anything like this before and

her story is an inspiring example of what one student

can achieve.

 

Says Jennifer's mother Maria Watson,

 

" I am so proud of my daughter. This experience has

brought out the best in her. Her strong will and

determination to stand up for her beliefs has given

her confidence in herself as a person. "

 

Congratulatory messages can be sent to Jennifer at:

imgettenit

 

Dr. Andrew Knight BSc. (Vet. Biol.), BVMS of Education

Animalearn

801 Old York Rd. # 204

Jenkintown PA 19046-1685

US

Ph: 215-887-0816

Fax: 215-887-2088

aknight

www.animalearn.org

www.humanestudent.org