(CNN) A Texas charter school is apologizing after a teacher gave an assignment to an eighth grade American History class, asking students to list the positive aspects of slavery.

"When I first read it, I thought, this was b.s.," said Great Hearts Monte Vista eighth-grade student Manu Livar.

Students in the class were supposed to complete an assignment on the "positive aspects" and "negative aspects" of the life of slaves, giving a "balanced view." Manu said his teacher told them to draw on information from their textbook and "stuff that we could think of the top off our head."

It was a precursor to the class reading former slaves' accounts of their lives in slavery.

When his mother picked Manu up, he showed her the assignment; she immediately sent a picture of it to her husband.

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