Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 | 9:59 a.m.
Dissection just doesn't cut it for Laurie Wolff.
As a sixth grader, the straight-A Clark County School District student accepted a 'C' on a science assignment because she refused to slice open an earthworm. The lower grade came because the assignment was, Wolff said, based on participation.
"But I still had to watch," she said.
That led Wolff on a campaign to give students the option to bow out of classroom dissections without having to watch -- or accept a lower grade.
Her efforts may change secondary level science classes throughout the Clark County School District.
Following the lead of Wolff and her grandmother, Louise Anderson, who has helped with the effort, district officials are researching and designing a policy to provide other options for students who oppose dissections.
Two years ago Wolff collected signatures from fellow students, set up an information booth at a local pet store and gave a presentation to the School Board.
"I feel that killing animals and cutting them up so kids can look inside them is not having any respect for life," said Wolff, 13, who is now in eighth grade at Garrett Middle School in Boulder City.
Some large school districts in the country already recognize that some students find dissections offensive. Districts such as Chicago; Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and Virginia Beach, Va., for example, give students other options in science class without penalties being applied to their grades, according to the Physician's Committee on Responsible Medicine in Washington.
More than 70 percent of the nation's medical schools have already eliminated dissection labs in favor of computer simulations, said Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the committee. Some of the software programs allow for 3-D imaging and reconstructing the animal after the dissection.
"If you can get a degree from Stanford or Duke without cutting up animals, you should be able to get through the sixth grade," Barnard said this morning.
Studies have been done comparing medical students who went through traditional dissection labs and those who studied using software programs, Barnard said.
"Both groups of students learned the material, but the computerized method is much more efficient with time and allows the student to go back over the material as many times as needed," Barnard said.
The point of dissection is to understand how an animal is constructed and its anatomy, Barnard said.
"These kids are not learning how to be worm surgeons," Barnard said. "When you force kids to learn about animals by cutting them up, the only thing you're teaching them is a disrespect for nature."
Exactly how Clark County's policy would work still has not been settled.
"The policy is still emerging," said Gene Butler, an assistant director for curriculum. "We would provide other options if a youngster felt very strongly about this."
Butler and two teachers on special assignment are researching dissection policies in other districts. They expect to have a policy ready for School Board to approve in March.
"It's something I'm willing to look at," said board member Sheila Moulton. "Students should be given a choice if it's something they feel that strongly about."
Wolff's proposal asks that teachers inform students of their right to refuse dissection. It also asks they be given alternative lessons involving "anything that was killed to be used for study."
Also, students should not be penalized or given a lower grade and they should be allowed to leave the room and not watch the dissection, according to the proposal.
"I have a lot of friends who oppose dissection, but they are too afraid to say anything about it," Wolff said.
Her mother, Laura Sommerfeld said her daughter has also received a lesson in civics.
"It's about democracy and standing up for what you believe in," Sommerfeld said. "It's not a perfect system. But it's a system that works."
Sun reporter Emily Richmond contributed to this story.
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