Not sure if you have seen the graphic violence most kids that age are exposed too playing video games. And you can say a parent watches what games their kid plays but I guarantee you that they have a friend’s house they can go over and play them at. Same with violent R rated horror movies and internet porn. It was about that age I was over a friend’s house where he knew were his father kept his playboys and we snuck a peak. I think I saw the movies Jaws at that age and it scared me but I go over it. Today that movie looks so fake but back then it looked real to people.
I don’t know what they do today but any filed trip I ever went on required a signed permission slip. So the parent could choose to have their kid not participate. Today there are lots of countries out there where 10 year olds are slaughtering animals, my wife’s country being one of them. My grandmother first grew up on a farm and saw animals being killed for food, not sure at what age she may have killed a chicken. Some dad’s will take a 10 year old hunting for the fist time too. Not everyone is lucky like we are here to have supermarkets with neatly packaged meats, poultry and fish.
At 10 years old the maturity level will vary widely amongst the kids. But teachers can’t teach to the lowest conmen denominator. Some times kids will get upset, that is part of growing up and life.
However it is obvious in retrospect that the teacher should have given the parents a heads up about what they guest speaker would be showing to prepare the kids about what they would be seeing. And have a parent pull their kids from the demonstration if they felt strongly about their kids seeing it. Not sure what was told to them, it did say they knew someone was coming to talk about cell growth and they did prepare questions.
I have lots of 10 year old cousins, and I believe they would be mature enough to have handled that class and come away with learning something.
I don’t think anyone wants to see or smell a slaughterhouse at any age. But if you want to know how that meat you eat gets on your table then I think everyone should see one. If you don’t like it then become a vegan.
Nobody said to NEVER show it to them, merely to wait until they have attained the maturity necessary to confront these issues with rationale rather than fear.
What if they wanted to show your kid how a slaughterhouse works? There's a proper age to allow your kid to see it...ten years old aint it!