To ask for DD to be excused from this?

[TravellingSpoon]

DD is in secondary school and this week they will be dissecting chicken wings, not a demonstration, each child is supposed to have their own and will do it as a whole class task.

DD is a vegetarian (her choice) and is really not happy about doing it and has asked that I ask for her to be excused from it, but is worried that she will be made to sit in isolation for that lesson which is a fate worse than death.

AIBU to ask for DD to be excused from the lesson?

Daughter doing biology A level. Vegetarian. She too was excused. There are plenty of videos to show this. I would feel proud of her principles. Maybe she could read a book or complete the task by observation of the others.

@mynameisbrian

she isnt eating it, humans are dissected by medical students etc for education purposes, we learn through research and looking at tissue etc as it helps us explore new treatments etcs.. I dont see the issue myself

Are you vegetarian?

Are you vegetarian?
You're missing the point. There are vegetarian medical students.

I don't want to isn't a reason I could support as this an educational activity but surely there is an acceptable alternative.

You won’t need to support it. Kids can opt out without parents being involved, just that some parents would speak to the school. It’s your child’s choice.

If it's 2ndry school I would have thought that your daughter should be asking herself.

Is it definitely not optional?

It was for me more that 40yrs ago!

You could wait outside, be in the room peering from the sidelines, take it in turns with partner or watch whilst partner did all.

"Just because she chooses not to eat mean, doesn't mean that she needs to pretend that animals don't exist."

To those posters unable to understand my typo - I meant - just because the OP's child does not wish to eat meat, does not mean she cannot learn about practical anatomy at school.

Hope that's clear enough this time round

That makes sense.

Opt out, we could in the 80s, she should be able to excuse herself.

I think we did litter picking instead

I felt uncomfortable with dissections at school and requested to be excused. The teacher gave me and another student the required textbook pages and we sat in the next classroom for the duration of the dissection.

Personally I'd suggest she asks in the first instance and then you provide your support/add to the request if required. If she is excused the lesson then she will need to work somewhere there's appropriate supervision and that might be the school isolation room. I don't think she gets to be excused and then start deciding how and where school should accommodate her request

In my class the girls that didn't participate sat at the back making gagging noises and faux swooning, which absolutely fucked it for the rest of us that wanted to do it.

I think she'd be better off out of the class, let the others concentrate and she can concentrate on her work too.

I also think she should be the one to make the case to her teacher as an informed decision and having worked out what she can do theoretically to compensate for the practical.

I'd ask for her to be excused

It wasn't the typo that was the issue. I didn't even notice the typo. It just didn't make any sense.

Not wanting to participate in an activity that involves a murdered animal isn't the same as pretending they don't exist!

You're missing the point. There are vegetarian medical students.

Humans give consent for their body to use and are not killed for that purpose! Nothing like the same.

There are computer programs and aids for people who choose to not use animals though.

@Marmaladee

It might sound dramatic to you but I would actually feel it was as gross as cutting up a dead person for me.

You're right, that does sound dramatic. And ridiculous

It doesn't teach resilience, it teaches cruelty and teaches kids animals are there for our use, which I don't agree with.

I mean, I think the burgers (likely halal slaughtered) in the school canteen do that...

To me, being vegetarian based on principals means you don't want animals to suffer on your behalf. Fairly standard belief for vegetarians, isn't that? So you don't want the school to procure you a chicken wing for your personal dissection even though they probably buy them in packs of 24 from asda - that doesn't mean you can't watch what somebody else is doing with theirs. I understand you might find it gross, distasteful, upsetting even, but if you can sit at the same table as them in the canteen, I honestly don't see the difference. And If you can't sit at the same table in the canteen then you really DO have a resilience problem. One is being used by humans as food (which you don't agree is necessary), one is being used for education (which you also don't agree is necessary). I mean, the main difference as far as I'm concerned is the salmonella risk!

We did bulls eyes, and white rats. The smell was deplorable from the rats - what I had in my sandwiches for lunch that day, reminded me of the kidneys. It was 36 years ago and I've never eaten it since, or forgot the smell. Although I was OK to do it at the time, it affected me afterwards. I'm not "precious" or squeamish (nurse of 34 years experience), but I feel this is totally unnecessary experience.