Learning without killing
It is an unfortunate fact that life and health sciences
education has traditionally involved the harmful use of animals. Countless
animals have lost their lives in attempts to teach practical skills and
demonstrate scientific principles which have, in most cases, been established
for decades. However, at the start of the 21st century, many
thousands of humane educational alternatives now exist. These include computer
simulations, videos, plasticised specimens, ethically-sourced cadavers
(obtained from animals that have died naturally, in accidents, or been
euthanased for medical reasons), models, diagrams, self-experimentation, and
supervised clinical experiences.
At least 33 papers sourced from the biomedical and educational literature,
covering all educational levels and disciplines, have described studies
comparing the ability of
humane alternatives to impart knowledge or clinical or surgical skills. 39.4%
(13/33) demonstrated that alternative students achieved
superior learning outcomes, or achieved equivalent results more quickly,
allowing time for additional learning. 51.5% (17/33) demonstrated equivalent
educational efficacy, and only 9.1% (3/33) demonstrated inferior educational
efficacy of humane alternatives. The design of one of the latter studies has
been substantially criticized. 74 additional studies are also
provided in which comparison with harmful animal use did not occur,
demonstrating further educational efficacy, as well as staff time and cost
savings and other important advantages of humane teaching methods ('Resources').
Despite this, many educational institutions are resistant to implementing humane teaching methods, and instead continue to kill substantial numbers of animals in their courses. Students who have the courage to request humane alternatives are often penalised or even failed if they refuse to participate in harmful animal use.
However, it is crucial that students who do not wish to harm animals during their education are able to complete their courses, for several reasons:
1. It directly saves animal lives. Once animal experiments are dropped from courses they are rarely re-introduced, particularly where student concerns have contributed to their replacement by humane alternatives.
2. It allows students to obtain their qualifications without becoming as desensitised to harmful use as studies have shown otherwise occurs.
a) This is very important for those students personally. There are numerous talented students who have been forced to withdraw from life and health science courses around the world because they were unwilling to participate in harmful animal use for the sake of their education. In some cases they have lost marks or been failed after refusing to participate in harmful animal use. Legal battles have sometimes resulted, which are taxing for both students and their institutions, although students usually win in the end.
b) It is also important for the professions they will enter. It can only improve the character of the health and life science professions when those students with the most compassion are able to graduate, instead of sometimes being failed or forced to withdraw from their courses. It can only be beneficial for the future of these professions to have an increasing proportion of members who know that humane alternatives to animal experimentation and dissection do, in fact, exist, and that they can be effective.
The power of students
Although academics do sometimes assist with the introduction of humane alternatives, students are generally far more active in pressuring universities to adopt them. In 1998 my alternatives submission resulted in the elimination of most of the invasive physiology laboratories at Western Australia’s Murdoch University vet school where I was a student, and in 2000 I helped established humane alternatives to Murdoch’s terminal (lethal) veterinary surgical labs. Previously, large numbers of animals were killed in these laboratories annually. I have since been involved in a significant number of campaigns at various universities within Australia, New Zealand and the US that have eliminated a large number of laboratories in which hundreds of animals were killed annually. All of these campaigns have been run by highly motivated students, usually against the strong opposition of the academics in charge.
Compassionate students who are personally confronted with harmful animal use in their courses are the group most motivated to campaign for humane alternatives. They are usually far less desensitized to animal experimentation or dissection than teachers and professors, most of whom have been immersed in an animal research environment for years; and unlike academic staff, cannot be fired for publicly criticizing harmful animal use within their institution. Indeed, enrolled students with a committed and professional approach, and access to the resources they need, have enormous power to reduce harmful animal use, when they are able to find the courage to demand that their institutions fulfil their legal or ethical obligations to teach in ways that respect their conscientiously held beliefs against harming animals.
www.LearningWithoutKilling.info provides students with easy access to the resources most needed when attempting to introduce humane alternatives to harmful animal use. These include my book Learning Without Killing: A Guide to Conscientious Objection and other useful conscientious objection resources, including examples of comprehensive alternatives submissions that students can download, modify with minimal time and effort, and resubmit to their own universities in support of their requests for alternatives. Such submissions have been core elements of several of the successful campaigns I've been involved in, and have saved hundreds of lives annually. Also useful are a photo gallery of harmful animal use and humane alternatives that may be used to illustrate campaign materials, links to other humane education web sites, alternatives databases, and humane education email lists, and memorial stories submitted by students wishing to honor the animals they’ve seen harmed or killed in their courses.
It is my hope that new students around the world will join the growing international community of students unwilling to harm or kill animals in the name of their education, (particularly by subscribing to the excellent humane education email lists available), and that they will use the resources, support and expertise of others available through that network, to win campaigns for humane alternatives on their own campuses, wherever they may be.
Outreach program
In order to provide students with information about humane alternatives, inspire them to conscientiously object, and guide them in the steps they need to follow to maximize their chances of success, my outreach program consists of:
¨ Providing
presentations on humane alternatives in education and student conscientious
objection at as many campuses and venues as possible. I very much enjoy giving
presentations on these topics around the world.
¨ Seeking
students, e.g. via campus animal rights groups, to place
www.LearningWithoutKilling.info flyers on student noticeboards in relevant
areas, e.g. biology faculties. This is a highly targeted and effective approach.
Download leaflet now
(132 Kb, 1 page, MS Word).
¨ Submission
of articles and advertisements to student magazines (e.g. student union
newspapers) and the journals of animal protection organizations.
¨ Submission
of www.LearningWithoutKilling.info links and banners to anti-vivisection, animal
protection, and other relevant websites.
Download banner now (8 Kb, 460 x 62 pixel .JPG).
¨ Submission of notices to humane education and other relevant email lists, and animal protection organizations worldwide.
Please
email
me if you know of a suitable outreach opportunity for my humane education outreach program.
I am particularly grateful to Grace Mercer and Dr. Eva Berriman for their
assistance during the creation of this site.
Andrew Knight BSc., BVMS, CertAW, MRCVS
Veterinarian and Animal Advocate
