In school a few days ago, we dissected frogs. I personally enjoyed the process, but dissections have always been a very controversial topic. There has always been debate about the value of life for these specimens. Several animal rights activists have held rallies to slander this practice. According to the World Conservation Union, one third of the world's amphibians face extinction. This could be due to the practice of dissection, but there are many other factors that contribute to this decrease. However, for students who don't want to dissect, there are excellent digital dissections that can be found on the web. Dr. Gaunt of PBS says, "I think it's a great idea. A lot of good things could benefit from it. One popular program called Visifrog has been a great sucess in schools across the globe. Above is an image of one of the virtual frog dissections and it still maintains the visual effect and not the smell.:) Personally, I think that students should have a right to choose if they feel comfortable or not dissecting a frog. Often, religion stands in the way and in which case the student should be required to do a virtual dissection. No matter how you choose to dissect, the purpose in doing so is to aquire knowledge, not to have fun. Many cruel individuals will cut open animals for entertainment and that is wrong.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/science/jan-june08/dissection_4-11.html
