The following links lead to Dylan's report The Mind and Motives of Charles Manson. It's a rather dry, text-book read if you ask me. You could get the exact same thing out of books at any public library. Despite media hype, the actual content of the assignment is pretty matter-of-fact and doesn't seem to particularly idolize Charles Manson -- in fact, at one point Dylan describes how the Manson Family 'lost their humanity at the ranch', which indicates to me that he not only understood what they did was wrong but that their actions stripped them of their basic human status.

And what about the subject matter? Some would say it's disturbing that Dylan chose Manson as his subject for the paper but it really isn't all that unusual. Teachers, you know what I mean. How many reports do you see each year about Columbine? Erfurt? Jonesboro?

So what's a teacher to do when they see a report like this? Grade it, like Dylan's teacher did? Talk to the parents? Tell school officials? What then? What would you do if your child's teacher called you and told you s/he was writing stories about concentration camps or cannibalism? There's no right answer. Dylan's teacher gave cops this statement about what she did when Dylan turned in an even more disturbing essay but her actions didn't stop what happened.