Education

Degree in indifference

The world over, students are refusing to kill animals for the sake of their education. Teachers too are contributing to the phasing out of animal experimentation. But some educational institutions still insist that you have to kill in order to learn about life.

Is the real reason for this that they actually want their students to learn indifference to suffering? Do they simply want to produce students who will plod along in the same old footsteps of the animals experimenters who have gone before them? Are they afraid of criticism from those who think differently?

Animal experimentation risks leading to a disrespectful numbness towards living beings. You learn that a life is worth so little that it can be sacrificed to make teaching more “hands on”, that an animal is an object that can be used and then thrown in the bin at the end of the lesson. Is this the kind of attitude we want the researchers, doctors and veterinarians of the future to have?

Studies show that ethical methods that don’t use animals are more effective and create a better learning environment. Today there are more ethical methods than there are animal experiments: virtual dissections that can be performed on the screen, computer programs that can simulate a laboratory, and advanced models for surgical training are just some of the options available.

Ethical learning makes students aware of animals’ intrinsic value. Ethical learning creates veterinarians and doctors who have developed the ability to empathise with their patients. It creates biologists with respect for the natural world they study. It creates the foundation for ethical research without animal experimentation.