system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: High school students should be able to read whatever they want for English class

Edit: My mindset has been changed today by many extremely intelligent and insightful people in the comments. I've learned a lot about the value of English class and what its actual purpose is. I almost want to delete my original post and comments now but I am going to leave them up because I think its important to remember where you started from. Regardless, I want to thank everyone for this high quality conversation, and apologize for any ignorance I may have showed, it was not intentional! ;)

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

The books that high school students are forced to read for English class are not going to inspire them to build a reading habit in their lives. Making high school kids read Hamlet, (a *play* that's meant to be *watched,* not read) written in archaic language that will only become more and more archaic as the years pass will only bore them and discourage them from taking an interest in English. Making them read an extremely long poem written hundreds of years ago that they are so far removed from the context of will not encourage them to get into poetry whatsoever.

Now of course, these are important things that a seasoned reader in their 30s 40s that is intelligent and mature enough to study the intricacies of English history should read, not high school students who could honestly care less. We can't put the cart before the horse, here. They have to build a basic interest in English first before studying advanced texts and English history.

To build this interest, I believe that high school students should be allowed to read whatever books they choose in English class. That is all English class should be, honestly. What better way to learn about fiction and the English language, than to read dozens of fiction books? The teacher's role should honestly be to answer questions, provide insights, and help the students understand what they're reading, or if there are passages or words that they don't understand. No need for tests either. All the students need to do is write a short essay about their thoughts on the book they read that week.

Children sitting in a classroom reading books that they're actually interested in for 45 minutes a day will teach them more about English and get them more excited to make fiction a part of their lives then the overly-structured, outdated, monotonous and oblivious English classes we have now.

I know the people I'm going up against who created the English classes are far wiser than me, so I might be missing something here.

Edit: a commenter asked if they could read a comic book/Japanese manga, and I just wanted to clarify that when I say any book, I mean any English book.

Edit 2: A commenter asked why there's no writing involved in my hypothetical class. That's because there should be a separate class for writing! Not much creative writing is done in most English classes anyway.
gpt
I feel like you are confusing elementary school and high school. 

Elementary school, you learn to read, and develop a thirst for reading. 

By the time you get to high school, English is primarily learning essay structure, persuasive writing, poetry structure, story structure, etc. 

You are reading, to gain historical perspective (ideally paired with a history class proper), to reinforce a recently taught story structure, or the like. 

At the high school level, there shouldn't be words students don't understand and cannot Google. Students should be expected to already know how to use a dictionary by then. 

I feel like you are infantilizing high schoolers, except you seem to think that they can write essays. Essay writing is the skill that should be explicitly taught and developed, everything else you suggest should already exist from elementary and junior high.