Can you first please tell me why a high school would ever be called "Nitro High School"? And then tell me why a kid gets pulled from an AP course over a book ... his parents obviously care more for their irrational principles than they do for their kid. Not taking an AP course changes a lot of things in life ... reading a single book with violence in it does not. If anything, the parents could have read the book first and asked their son not to read the objectionable part which they could summarize if it contained any plot elements. That's stupid anyway, though, because the kid can open any book he wants to at any time. That's the joyous thing about free will.

Quoted: Graphic depictions of violence, suicide and sexual assault in two Pat Conroy books are at the heart of a First Amendment debate, pitting offended parents against high school students who object to being told what they can't read.

Steve Shamblin, who teaches honors and Advanced Placement courses at Nitro High, said the graphic depictions in Conroy's books are found in newspapers every day. He also noted that several literary groups have deemed the books as age-appropriate for high school upperclassmen.