Do Biology Students Need Dissection?
Posted on April 19th, 2010 by Jaimie Schock
Is dissection essential to a high school biology class? That’s a question lawmakers in Connecticut are grappling with, according to the Hartford Courant. A bill heading to the state senate floor would allow students to opt out of dissections if they raise conscientious objections. Critics have long argued the procedure is outmoded and inhumane, while biology teachers have countered that it remains the most effective way to teach kids anatomy.
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Tags: Biology, Education Policy, Public Policy, Science Education
Enthusiasm among states for the administration’s $4 billion Race to the Top education grant competition is waning. Some states like California, Colorado and Arizona are having second thoughts about reapplying for the second round. Critics say it’s easier to garner support for reform from 100 percent of school districts and teachers’ unions in smaller states like Delaware, one of only two first round winners, than it is in larger states like California.
Delaware and Tennessee won the first round of grants in the U.S. Department of Education’s $4 billion Race to the Top Fund competition. Delaware will get $100 million, and Tennessee $500 million. The competition is aimed at encouraging states to create conditions for education reform. 
Congress has begun work on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which became known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) during the Bush years. The Department of Education’s “blueprint” for a new ESEA has largely won warm reviews from lawmakers in both parties. But, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) is unhappy that the proposal doesn’t put more emphasis on science education.
Around half of all high school graduates who enroll in college don’t finish, and a recent poll of employers found that 40 percent of the new grads they hire don’t have the skills necessary to advance in their jobs. But experts agree that, so far, there is no good way to measure how college- and career-ready students are; hence the White House making $350 million available to states to develop new assessments.
Do American schoolkids need to spend more time at school? Yes, argues Charles E. Finn Jr., a former assistant secretary of education. Chinese students spend 41 more days a year in school than does the average American, but change is reaching our shores. 
PepsiCo, the second-largest soda pop maker in the world—has agreed to refrain from selling its sugary products in schools, removing full-calorie, sweetened drinks from primary and secondary schools in 200 countries by 2012. 
Congress is gearing up to reauthorize Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which channels funding to K-12 education and which was last reauthorized during the Bush Administration, when it was re-dubbed No Child Left Behind (NCLB). President Obama’s version, unveiled last week, would greatly overhaul NCLB. 
