There's no good substitute for dissections

Some high school students have been picketing the practice of dissecting animals in biology class.

It's the latest rebellion craze, and it has honors science students risking their academic status to avoid the time-tested and educationally beneficial experience of dissecting animals to learn anatomy.

In Baltimore, local Humane Society officials attended a school board meeting in a school district where an honors anatomy student was placed in a general science class after refusing to dissect a cat. The Humane Society wanted dissecting alternatives provided districtwide.

Since when did the Humane Society decide the best way to educate children?

There's far more validity to the stance of the 9,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers, which has the formal position: "No alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissection."

Perhaps students who have a problem with the practice should enroll in business classes, where the only dissection they'll have to do is of accounting statements.