Should Shakespeare still be taught in high schools? | Teen Ink

Should Shakespeare still be taught in high schools?

April 1, 2022
By ffrancescarandazzo BRONZE, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
ffrancescarandazzo BRONZE, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

 Shakespeare has been a part of high school curriculums for decades. His work has been taught across the world and has influenced millions of people. I’m a Sophomore in high school and throughout my time in high school I have heard plenty about Shakespeare. Growing up you always hear about how you’ll be reading Shakespeare in high school. Some people complain about the language and the difficulties while others praise his work. Over these past two years I have heard countless people debating over whether or not Shakespeare should still be taught in high schools. Personally, I believe that Shakespeare should still be taught in school since his mark on the writing world has been so extreme, but I do believe that there are some things that need to be changed. For example, I believe that they should branch out with his work instead of only doing the same two or three works. As much as Romeo and Juliet is a very compelling piece of writing, it is taught in almost every high school across the country. I remember, as a little girl I already knew exactly what happened in Romeo and Juliet and ended up being bored when learning about it in school as were many of my peers. Shakespeare was such a talented man and I can not understand why schools don’t branch out and really explore him to his full potential. 

               Another thing about reading Shakespeare in school is that most teenagers in high school read Macbeth. Let me tell you if I thought I was uninterested last year reading Romeo and Juliet, this is so much worse. I would have to say that Macbeth is one of his least interesting works out there. It’s predictable and extremely boring. I wish we would branch out and learn about a play other than Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth seeing as most people already know the general idea of Romeo and Juliet and it doesn’t really work up to anything as everyone already knows how it ends. Macbeth is genuinely just not as interesting as people build Shakesphere plays to be. I don’t believe that Macbeth is bad, but it’s not as interesting or compelling as I believe his work can be. It’s predictable which is the last thing you would expect from a writer like Shakespeare. Shakespeare needs to be taught in schools, but students can not enjoy his work if schools do not branch out and give them an opportunity to want to learn about Shakespeare.

             Therefore, I believe that Shakespeare should still be taught in schools, but schools should teach different stories by Shakespeare. They need to branch out and try to hold onto students' attention and get people to be more interested in the stories. It is so important that Shakespeare is still taught in school so that more generations can experience the same impact that generations before them have. This is exactly why schools need to branch out and teach different pieces of writing by Shakespeare so that new generations can not only learn about Shakespheres’ works, but also enjoy them.



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