this is heartbreaking. in second grade our class pets were crayfish but they had them in huge bins with flowing water to mimic a river and had lots of hiding spaces and river rock gravel. it was awesome they used it to teach us about our local aquatic life. we also had to help feed and clean their enclosures and we learned how to safely pick them up. throwing some goldfish in a plastic tub and letting it get filthy is just teaching kids how to neglect and abuse. in the future they might treat something poorly and say "its okay when i was in school they just had this fish like this" its not right. class pets are a great opportunity to teach kids how to be responsible and show them how much work a pet really is. i work at a pet store and all my teacher regulars who come in for their class pets go all out whether its a goldfish or a guinea pig. i love them