Katherine Lewis

About the author: Katherine Lewis is the director of education for the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), and a contributor to AV Magazine, the organization's publication. The AAVS is devoted to ending animal experimentation.

By making animal dissection part of academic curricula, the education system is molding students to view animal experimentation as ethically acceptable. Instead, students should be encouraged to express freedom of choice concerning their participation in animal dissection. Furthermore, most students will never make use of animal experimentation in their future occupations, and therefore should not be compelled to take part in course work that may conflict with their ethical beliefs.

Education is a process of training and/or developing knowledge. Ethics is the system, or code of morals, that a particular person, religion, or group holds. To speak of animals, ethics...