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I hated Shakespeare with a passion because I couldn't understand a damn thing I read, and would often have to reread a sentence 5 or 6 times to get the meaning, and I was in honors and college level English in high school. Having to have the teacher dissect every sentence sucked...there were students who understood it better than I did, but I know there were plenty who didn't. However, I liked the actual stories once I understood them. As far as other "dead white guy classics", I read plenty I loved and plenty I didn't. English in school isn't about reading what is popular...reading classics provide valuable insights about things that one might not think of otherwise. Personally, I think it celebrates the growth of humanity as well...reading great works as far back as Beowulf, and not forgetting our past as humans...regardless of who wrote them, While women (and especially minorities) aren't represented as well as white men, I read books by women as well...some that I loved, and some that I didn't. More than once I remember finishing a book in school and thinking...wow. That book was awesome, and it changed my way of thinking in some way. I never read The Grapes of Wrath, but I adored Of Mice and Men. It's pretty sad to know that a lot of today's students may never read books I dearly loved, but were difficult to read...Crime and Punishment, A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights. I guess I kind of feel the same as you, abaya.
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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"
Formerly Medusa
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