I'm a proud student who went through the Newport News Public Schools system from Kindegarten to my Senior year in high school. It's time you've heard the student's perspective on this issue. I'm a current student at The College of William and Mary and I owe all of my teachers this success. I've had excellent teachers all throughout my education and what made them excellent was the fact that they made their classes unique by carefully selecting texts that would benefit me as a student. My parents had easy access to communication with my teachers through email, and some of my teachers even gave out their personal phone numbers. It is the parent's responsibility to take interest in what their child is learning and not the state's responsibility to regulate that. I read texts such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Bluest Eye, and I studied The Bible as in Literature. These were some of my favorite units and some of the most beneficial to my education. My teachers taught me how to read controversial material and discuss it appropriately. This is a skill many lack today in the age of the Internet where many post offensive comments because they never learned how to discuss issues delicately. So please, let teachers teach texts freely, and let students learn how to handle difficult texts and the issues these texts raise.