Is there really a huge controversy over reptile ownership??

[kath_]

My 6th grade Earth Science teacher was into reptiles and was a huge role model for me when I didn't have another positive male influence in my life. I took the very first snake I ever caught to him and he told me what it was and pointed me in the right direction to learn as much as I could.

My bio and environmental geoscience high school teachers got me into reptiles! They had lots of them as classroom pets and they taught me about chameleon and BP husbandry which I ended up loving for some reason and I decided my sophomore year of high school I wanted my own reptile someday. But I ended up waiting until my junior year of college to actually get one. Oops.
Anyways, I really think if people were just willing to learn more about reptiles from people like our teachers about how amazing they are, there wouldn't be so much controversy. I'm a super new beginner to reptile care but I'm under the impression that the reptile industry has changed a lot for the better as far as care and trustworthiness goes.