A Baltimore County honor student's seemingly innocent request
in September to opt out of a cat dissection has placed the
teenager in the middle of a budding national controversy and
briefly buffeted her between school administrators who were
apparently of two minds about what to do with the dissection
objector.
On Monday, September 23, Jennifer Watson, a straight-A
student at Kenwood High School in Essex, dropped out of her
honors anatomy and physiology class after a Baltimore County
school district administrator allegedly told her mother that
dissection was an integral part of the course and that the
class could not be completed without it. The owner of a cat
named Fluffy, Jennifer could not stomach the idea of cutting
open a feline under any circumstances, even for an honors
credit that would help her academic record.
By Wednesday, September 25, however, the 16-year-old junior
was back in her honors class after the school district's Office
of Science stepped in and informed Kenwood High that the
district does indeed have an unwritten policy of providing
students with alternatives to dissection, when necessary.
The decision has already created some ripple effects.
"Five other students have spoken up about dissections (in
the honors class)," says Maria Watson, Jennifer's mother, who
led the battle to keep her daughter in the class and to push
for a written student-choice policy in the district. "It's all
because of my daughter speaking up, and I'm really happy about
that."
More than that, the decision has captured the attention of
the national media, which have published Jennifer's story in
their pages from coast to coast. Jennifer, Maria, and a HSUS
representative will also take the story to MSNBC on Wednesday,
October 9, when they will debate the issue on Nachman,
hosted by MSNBC-TV's editor-in-chief, Jerry Nachman.
Jennifer's victory is the culmination of a month-long battle
between Maria Watson and the Baltimore County school system.
Maria says she contacted Kenwood High after her daughter's
first day of school, when Jennifer was informed that dissection
would be required as part of the honors anatomy course. Maria
says she never heard back from Kenwood, even after she offered
to purchase a CD-ROM kit for her daughter to use as an
alternative to dissection. She next approached Baltimore County
school district administrators, who waffled on the idea of
alternatives before allegedly rejecting it, thereby forcing
Jennifer to abandon the class.
Maria decided to take her fight public. She rounded up
national animal experts such as Dr. Lesley King, The HSUS's
director for education and animal welfare, and spoke out at the
Baltimore County's school board meeting on Tuesday, September
24. Maria, Jennifer, King, and others took turns addressing the
board; together, they pushed for an official, written
student-choice policy within Baltimore County schools and made
the case for the effectiveness of alternative methods.
Their presentation hit its mark. Following the meeting, an
official with the Office of Science told Maria and company that
he would take care of the matter. The following morning, Maria
received a call from a Baltimore County school district
administrator who said that Kenwood had purchased three
dissection CD-ROMS and that Jennifer was welcome back into the
honors class.
Kenwood's principal stated, "We have the CD ready to go, and
we have our plans in place, and we can deliver a good program.
We will give this option to other students."
In order to provide this option to students, however, the
students have to know about it. And Maria Watson wants to make
sure that Baltimore County school district officials publicize
the fact that they have alternatives available. Adds The HSUS's
King: "I urge all students who object to dissection to speak up
and ask for an alternative. There are many others, like
Jennifer, who want to learn biology, but just do not want to
harm animals in the process."
The HSUS plays an active role in encouraging educators and
students to implement humane yet innovative teaching methods
into biology curricula. The HSUS's Humane Education Loan
Program (HELP) is a free service that loans a wide variety of
items ranging from videos to CD-ROMs to lifelike models. It is
prepared to loan a CD-ROM to Kenwood High in case Jennifer
Watson ultimately needs one.
