Comments on: Biology Lesson a Little Too Raw for Mass. Parents

By: Gwenny

Gwenny — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:43:01 +0000

LOL I was in fourth grade when I got my first dissecting kit for Christmas. My best friend that year was the daughter of a surgeon. He invited me over to his house and taught Laura and I how to dissect a worm, cricket and crawdad, which were preserved in formaldehyde. A few month later my cat had kittens on the foot of my bed on Easter morning. It doesn’t seem to have unduly traumatized me.

There’s protecting kids and there’s being stupid. This fall in “being stupid”.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:41:11 +0000

In a way I can understand the reaction. It is sometimes beyond comprehension to see something that normally exists, in this case, inside the womb, outside the womb.

I’m not sure what age 5th grade is over the states – but they sound old enough perhaps to have accepted this. Perhaps it should have been backed up by other means of visualising the development of the unborn child – Lennart Nillson book ‘A child is born’ is amazing, as is ‘In the Womb’ set of DVDs by NG.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:03:31 +0000

These parents would have been extra, extra horrified at the pig lungs (from the local slaughter house) that my mom brought in when we studied the respiratory system in 5th grade. We kids got to handle them and everything! Truth be told, that’s one of the few middle school science lessons that I actually remember! Of course, this was also in South Dakota, where people tend to be a little more rational about parts of dead stuff.