I went to high school in Fairfax County from 1998 to 2002. At various times during my young adult years (high school and college), I was exposed to explicit materials (violence or sexuality). This sometimes occurred through my classes, sometimes through friends, and sometimes through reading materials I selected for myself. In every case, I would have preferred to know that the materials I was reading contained such explicit descriptions, photographs, or videos of these these acts. The explicit nature of these materials impaired my ability to reflect, evaluate, analyze, think about, and make judgments about the events or behaviors.

Great care must be taken to assist a student's development in response to these very sensitive issues, and notifying them of the explicit nature of their textbook or classroom materials is an important step. For many students, a simple dictionary defintion of historical events or other behaviors is sufficient to draw out the thought and reflection that teachers desire from high-school aged students.