One of the most popular courses at Bob Jones is forensics. Many students enroll in this course to “explore the science of crime scene analysis with real life application of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.”  If you ask some students about the program, they may warn you…about the real fetal pig dissections. Yes, our Forensics program does a dissection of a real fetal pig.

The teacher behind the magic, Mrs. Martin, said, “Most students are nervous at first, but once they get into it, they’re fine with it.” Students perform the dissection the same way an autopsy would be conducted by a pathologist. First, the students make a “Y-incision.”  Next they remove the organs, take measurements, make notes, take pictures, and finally, write an autopsy report for the fetal pig.

Some people might say the real life dissection is outdated with new online virtual dissections. On Debate.Org,  52% of people say schools should ban animal dissection. The argument they press is that “animal dissection labs are an unethical and unnecessary part of the secondary school biology program.”

Would this still apply to Bob Jones, considering it isn’t just a simple biology project? Here it is an autopsy conducted the same way a pathologist would, and students take the class by choice. This course is not required in the Alabama State Curriculum, and students take it by choice.

The 48% who support animal dissections argue that “hands-on education is what teaches children more. Additionally, worksheets aren’t able to provide the natural look and feel of such things.”

In an informal survey, 8 out of 21 Bob Jones students say they oppose real life dissections.

Bob Jones teacher Mrs. Panagos said that it could be worse.  At her high school, they would start off as freshman dissecting worms, fish, and fetal pigs but then ultimately dissecting a cat. “Dissecting a domestic animal like a cat is definitely a much different experience than dissecting a farm animal, but I also think it was a great learning experience,” said Mrs. Panagos.

Bob Jones classes pride themselves on preparing students for the real-world, and if students are going into forensic pathology, students need the experience provided in our forensics class.