IN 1987 JENNIFER Graham's high school classmates dubbed her the "frog girl." People throughout the United States soon knew Graham, a fifteen-year-old tenth grader at Victor Valley High School in California, by the same name. Graham made headlines across the country because she refused to dissect a frog for a school assignment. "I'm not squeamish or emotional . . . I don't want to have any part in it," Graham explained. She said she objected to the killing of animals for research.

Frog dissection was a required science assignment at Graham's high school. Graham refused to complete the assignment because she believed that by doing so she would be condoning the senseless killing of animals. After Graham refused to dissect the frog, her principal told her that she could skip the assignment, but it would be deducted from her grade. This was not acceptable to Graham because she needed a high grade...