Can I legitimately protest animal dissections in an AP Biology class?

Question

I have been a vegetarian for more than 4 years now. I'm going into my junior year at high school, and my science class will be AP Biology. I'm very nervous about taking this class. I'm ready to take on the amount of work involved, but I'm not happy about having to do dissections. I'm strongly opposed to the suffering which animals must undergo when they born and bred to be killed.

I've done a lot of research about this issue to make sure that the facts about animal cruelty are true-- so I'm not just trying to make a statement out of ignorance. In freshman biology, I would always have my lab partners do all the dissecting while I stuck to all the paperwork; this was a kind of agreement between us, but I would always feel bad that I wasn't helping them too much during the dissecting part of the lab. I know that this kind of act will not suffice for an AP class, and I can't leave a lab partner hanging like that. I am worried, though, of what the other students and my teacher would think if I outright protested the dissections by simply not doing them. I'm a shy person and I'm reluctant to set myself apart in what I think is a pretty radical way. Could I just ask the teacher if I can do different and relevant assignments, or would I be making myself a burden to her? Is there any compromise between having integrity with my vegetarianism, and going with the flow?

Answer 1

This is a free country and as long as you do not disrupt class you have a right to do so. It is nice to see people standing up for the rights of others.

Answer 2

Talk privately with your teacher about the issue. Usually teachers are more understanding than you'd think, I should know :). Tell your teacher your willing to sit through the class, like when you were a freshman, but you don't want to cut anything. If you're persuasive and you make a point to tell her that you're not trying to inconvience her it's just your beliefs, then she should listen.

Hope I helped :)