The Rights of Students in Courses Using Animals

Should students have the right to exercise their ethical beliefs concerning animals by refusing to participate in class demonstrations or experiments that use animals? Should teachers be required to add an optional procedure for those students? In the past decade, two major trends in our society suggest that the answer to both questions is, or will ultimately be, yes. From amoral perspective the view that nonhuman animals are fellow creatures entitled to moral concern as such is replacing the traditional outlook that sees them as mere resources for us to use however we choose. This changing outlook reflects the intellectual adjustment that is taking place in the realm of ideas, in keeping with the Darwinian perception that animals are our evolutionary kin. Moral consideration i