In response to Aug. 14 articles about how novels get into Tri-City classrooms:

Richland School District's changing policy on literature is concerning. Students are not helped by being sheltered from controversial literature.

I was lucky to have read books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Spite Fences in my English class at Richland High. These books and others are valuable and necessary. Despite the controversy, I enjoyed reading them. I felt older and wiser through the class discussions and individual assignments that challenged me and other students to express opinions. This is what teachers are meant to do. My teacher that year trusted the students to have the maturity to read these books.

As a school board and community tasked with educating students and preparing them for the future, Richland would fail in this duty if literature was restricted.

Mackenzie Keller, Richland