Teenager refuses to kill her chicken for a class project

[kla37]

http://animals.change.org/blog/view/teen_refuses_to_slaughter_chicken_for_high_school_class

This is a link to a pretty interesting story. I don't want to start a huge vegetarian/omnivore debate, but it seems to me that making kids raise chickens and then making them kill them, even if they don't want to, is pretty disturbing. I've helped slaughter chickens, and I think we did it as humanely as possible, but I can't imagine making someone do it, esp a kid, if they didn't want to!

 

[herefordlovinglady]

Ya for Whitney. I can't kill anything. I just can't, I do not condemn or judge those who can. I am proud that Whitney has stood up for her own values. she made a face book page for the chicken -- haha

here is the link.

http://www.facebook.com/chicklett.chickenhillman

 

[kla37]

I joined her FB page. We should tell her about BYC!

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

I've never heard of processing chickens in school. I have 3 daughters and NONE of them would of done this project

 

[welsummerchicks]

Ok, so wasn't it a little bit funny to see the standard facebook message:

"Not the Chicklett-Chicken-Hillman you're looking for?", like anyone else would have that name?

I got in a little trouble for refusing to pith/kill a frog in biology in early high school. I got an 'F' on that lab for refusing to kill the frog. We were supposed to scramble its brains too, it wasn't like it was going to be killed humanely. I said no.

I thought that today, kids were given the option of killing the animal or not. If a person were a card-carrying Hindu or Jain, their religion would forbid it and you really would have a big problem with the parents as well. Since we have a lot of people of different religions in America, I think they would be causing an awful lot of distress to those families. Then there are the Christian families who would be against it on moral grounds, and the individual kids who would be.

 

[speckledhen]

I completely understand the way she feels and it has nothing to do with vegetarian or not. Anyone who really spends close time with chickens will see that they are much like dogs in some ways. Each has its own personality and voice and it's very easy to become attached. Honestly, I have no problem with a student who can't go against her/his own conscience doing so. I encouraged my sons to do just that.

I do empathize with the young lady in the article. She said she does eat chicken, though, so this isn't a food issue. She just can't eat her chicken that she named. Nothing weird about that. If I was going to do meat birds, I'd house them further away from the others and wouldn't spend time with them other than to feed and water them. I know myself and I'd get attached to one somehow.

ETA: Just to clarify-- I didn't really judge the right and wrong of it, just said I understand how it could happen.

 

[herefordlovinglady]

I told her about byc and sent her a link to the thread.

 

[Organics North]

Weird..weird.. weird
In high school? Chicken processing?
How draconian

However she still should have followed a more legal route.. She must have known this was the intent of the class and could have taken more responsible preemptive action than what she did. IMO she could have started a school petition to save the chicken, brought it to the attention of her parents, local news, animal rights groups and so forth... Leaving class without permission and taking the chicken without permission is wrong no matter what the reason.


ON

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Expecting them o raise an animal and then kill it is unrealistic. Even when you raise an animal that you know you are going to raise as food it sometimes becomes untenable to kill it. I would hope the school can come up with an alternate project.

But, when I was in high school I had a teacher who I simply thought was a mean and horrid person. She verbally abused everyone. I was older than a couple of students in the class (it was a mixed grade language class) and I stood up to the teacher in defense of these younger students. She threw me out of class. I was told that I would have to apologize to her and watch my manners or I would fail the class and have to go to summer school.

My mother told me it was my decision. She said sometimes it is OK to decide that a price is too large for too small of a statement; but that other times you have to determine for yourself that even if you lose and have to pay a price, your principles are worth enough to pay that price. She made it very clear that this was my decision and she would support the choice but I would have to go to summer school and I would have to pay for it myself. She also said it was very likely that my "protest" would mean nothing to anyone other than me.

I chose to refuse to return to class unless the teacher agreed to apologize to the other students and watch her manners as well. Naturally she refused and I failed the class. I think my mother was proud of me in her own way even though I did have to pay for the class. I also know that although the teacher finished the semester, my actions meant something to the other students - who started to speak up for themselves more - and the teacher was not brought back the next year.

This is a good time for this girl to learn this lesson. The stakes are still relatively small. I hope her parents let her do this on her own.

 

[bpgraham]

WAY TO GO! If they can refuse to disect a frog they surely can refuse to kill a pet. Not all Chickens are raised for meat. It is a choice that the owner makes. If that is the owners choice...it is the right choice. I know that I can't kill mine. I got them knowing that. They were not ever going to be "meat" chickens. They are our pets and are treated as such.