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Those poor abused kids!
That was the sense I got listening to a bunch of talking heads on the tube last night while I waited patiently for the garage to replace Galileo’s left front wheel bearing. I could go on at length about that, but what I want to talk about now is the terrible abuse these poor high school kids are forced to endure.
It seems that in many schools today we have these awful science teachers who actually force their students to *gasp* dissect a frog! The horror! The smell! (of formaldehyde) And some of the kids are Vegans!
‘scuse me, lady, but I didn’t know that was a recognized religion…
At one point the head talking head “quoted” someone we never got to see on camera as saying ‘I dissected a frog back in high school. I can’t say I’ve ever used anything I learned from that in real life…’ Sounds like a custom crafted sound byte to me and I don’t recall any but one positive comment about the experience. That quote was played up to make it sound as if anyone who could actually enjoy that particular class must be some kind of sicko.
I don’t actually remember it myself. I must have been so traumatized by it that I’m blocking the memory. (Or maybe it just wasn’t that memorable? Iduno…)
OK, Ms. Talking head. So you don’t think this has any educational benefit. Fine. I have a better idea.
How about instead of dissecting an amphibian, we dissect something more like us. Humans are mammals. How about we have the kids dissect a small mammal? Or perhaps an avian? They are more like humans than the average frog ever dreamt of being.
You want it to be relevant? I can do that too.
Instead of “dissecting a cadaver animal” how about we instead teach the kids how to “field dress game animals?” The second half of the class would involve cooking the venison. We could use small mammals such as rabbit or squirrel. Or if the school chose to use an avian as the subject animal they could use rock doves. They are in plentiful supply particularly around the statuary in our cities memorial parks.
This kind of lesson could very well save the lives of the students if they should be stranded one day many years hence when their car breaks down on some lonesome back road in flyover country. No cell signal = no auto club. At least that way they might not starve to death while waiting to be rescued.
Sounds to me like a much more practically useful lesson. And you get the anatomy part of the class too. Hey! Maybe we could get Ted Nugent to write the introduction!
Who could ask for more?
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