How did you learn to ride a bike?  I doubt someone explained it to you, afterwhich you hopped on the bike and rode down the street perfectly the first time.  Well, the same is true with being a veterinarian (or whatever occupation you work in).  If students do not get to practice in context (meaning with animals) then how are they to learn how to do things correctly. You didn't know how to do all aspects of your job on the first day of employment, so you effectively practiced while working.  This proposed change in law attempts to minimize such situations.

It is impossible for students to practice everything they need to know and do in/on animals during only their 4th year of veterinary school. They need to be practicing during their first 3 years as well.  All this petition is doing is making that possible; students would still have to be supervised by a DVM (veterinarian).  As the law and circumstances stand now, there is a decent chance that your pet's DVM (not a student) may be performing a procedure on your pet for the first time in their life.  This pettion seeks to change that.

One has to put their money where their mouth is.  I allow 4th year veterinary students to provide medical care to and perform surgery on my pets, and would allow students in their first 3 years of veterinary school to do the same.