Frog? No Way : A Schoolgirl Sets Out to Dissect an Old Tradition

It is one of the more memorable rituals of passage endured by high school sophomores--not quite as terrible as a breakout of acne, but comparable to the dread of being driven on a date by parents.

Year after year, millions of American juveniles take scalpel in hand and slice open the innards of martyred frogs that have been pinned in the prone position to little trays of wax or pegboard. Together, these scientists and car salesmen of tomorrow learn to distinguish a frog liver from a frog kidney. They count the frog vertebrae. They poke about the frog intestines. They try not to lose their lunch.

Now comes Jenifer Graham, a 15-year-old sophomore at Victor Valley High School in Victorville.

Jenifer has refused to join her biology classmates in dissecting frogs. She says it is a matter of her principles--not to be confused with her principal, who has not embraced her position.

“I don’t believe in unnecessary killing and maiming of animals,” says Jenifer, who along with her mother has been a practicing vegetarian for about five years.

She explained Thursday that “it all started with the earthworm. That’s when I first refused to dissect.”

This was about two months ago. Jenifer said she told a school official about her beliefs, but he wasn’t buying: “He said he couldn’t respect my beliefs unless they were part of an organized religion--and if I had a note from a minister.”

In April came the frogs. For three weeks, as her classmates held their noses against the smell of formaldehyde and foraged about platters of dead frogs, Jenifer sat at her desk and did homework. School officials were adamant that she dissect a frog in order to pass the course. She was adamant that she would not.

Jenifer, represented by a lawyer and a national animal rights organization, filed a formal request this week to school district trustees that she be allowed to forgo frog dissection without any academic penalty.

She said she is willing to take alternative instruction, an option allowed by some other school districts, including Los Angeles.

“I feel like I could learn just as much as the other students learn, if not more, by using models or computer graphics,” Jenifer said. “The students in my class are backing me up. I’m sure some think I’m being ridiculous. But most, if they had an option, would not dissect.”

A ruling on the petition is expected by May 12.

Al Andrews, the school superintendent, thought on Wednesday that he had come up with a Solomon-like solution. He told reporters that Jenifer would not be required to dissect, but that her transcripts would reflect the fact that she had passed biology without carving up a frog.

But Jenifer said Thursday that such a compromise is not acceptable.

“I don’t want anything negative on my transcripts at all,” she said.

Her attorney, Joe Ramsey, said he will sue the school district if Jenifer’s request is denied. He compared the right to refrain from frog dissection to other civil rights, such as freedom of religion.

Andrews did not return telephone calls Thursday to discuss Jenifer’s rejection of his compromise offer.

And as for the frogs, they weren’t talking either.