Cat+Dissection-+lydia+heter

The cat dissection was appalling to me when the idea was first presented, both at the beginning of the year and when we actually started on the dissection. However, I do see the value that comes from this dissection because it was very informative and useful in bringing together all of the knowledge that we have learned not only in second semester, but also throughout the whole year. The cats were probably the most interesting part of anatomy class just because I never thought that I would be dissecting one of them. I did learn a lot from the process however and I believe that there could not have been any substitute for what I learned from the cat procedure (unless it had been another animal). Although the cat dissection was both informative and imperative in bringing together all the material that we have learned in the course of the year I could not help but feel that the dissection on a whole was somewhat rushed for time. The whole dissecting process did not leave much time to really absorb and understand what was going on. Even just one extra class period would have been sufficient enough to help relax the atmosphere a little and allow everyone to focus even more on getting the pictures and dissection exactly right. Overall, I feel that the cat dissections were very important in cementing the information that we have learned throughout the year into our minds, for the simple reason that no one in class will ever forget the dissection that we did. I think that the cat dissections, no matter how some people may be against it, are a very important part of the class and I would hope that the dissections would continue in years to come.