Reading "plays" by William Shakespeare mandatory in most schools......why?

Most of the plays have been made into films, and some of them are even good. Most teachers do as I do with my students -- we point out the material in the printed play, then show that part of the film, and even some of the ones that have modernized the play so that Othello is a basketball player. When I was a kid, my teachers made us memorize various parts of the plays, and I don't think anyone understood them. We learned to love Shakespeare later, in college or on our own. We learned from our own experiences, and we do all sorts of things to help with omprehension and appreciation. Sometimes groups are asked to act out various parts or to rewrite a soliloquy and rap for class. We even cook up the sorts of goodies people would have been eating at the time play. Many students tell me they love Shakespeare now, and most at least understand it. No matter what the situation in a teen's life, Shakespeare dealt with it in one or more of his plays or sonnets. Kid love the photos we show them of the real place - then and now, like the tombs of Romeo and Juliet people can visit in Verona. Classics are classics because of their value, and not because somebody arbitrarily decided we're supposed to like them!

Even if you saw the play instead of read the play, the language you hear would be the same as what you read. If you don't understand what you read, you probably won't understand if somebody speaks it. However, it is much more enjoyable if the actors and actresses are talented enough to pull off a good performance.

As an English Scholar, I can personally say that learning Shakespeare is mandatory because in college his works are recited a lot especially in the English, History, Philosophy, and Psychology departments because many of his quotes are used in day-to-day life. "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet) is a quote that is used to decribe the world and life as a whole in relationship to one's small views on life. We may not completely understand the language at times because it is different from our language, but we can learn what he means and what he is attempting to tell us about life. I am not a fan of Romeo & Juliet, but I can respect it for the valuable lessons that the story has to teach all of us. The same goes for most all Shakespeare work. Many of Shakespeare's works have plenty of lessons to teach us all.

I am a primary school teacher and I had lectures at university saying that William Shakespeare's plays are suitable for children and teenagers. I had to write an assignment supporting the statement that Shakespeare was suitable for a class of 4 year olds. Some of the language is colorful and enchanting and it can be abridged to suit young children. Children are exposed to a variety of good quality literature. I think it is better to see a play that to read a play. I have studied literature and it felt dry to read a play and it only seemed to come alive when it was acted. Yes, many children have trouble with the language and since the plays were written hundreds of years ago this is not surprising. Just look at Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, that is much more challenging reading. I saw The Merchant of Venice when I was ten. My favorite that I have seen now I am grown up is Much Ado About Nothing and it was an open air performance. Some of school is difficult for children but seeing the plays acted should be essential in their education. I know that Shakespeare comes up in the exams at age 18 so familiarity in Shakespeare's plays is important.

I endorse the reading of books, but I dislike it when reading is enforced until it becomes a chore. Reading should be pleasurable, and about a subject matter you care about. I don't see why it should become a reading requirement as well, especially due to its difficulty and since the structure of the language used is not implemented today. I've seen students from china learning from old books that use outdated slang like Shakespeare, and they start learning the same things and use them in real life. I don't know anyone who speaks like that anymore, except in plays.

i think you dont know who is willium sexphere ,, he was the great writter ,, a great artist and a great filosopper,, so whatever he thought he just wrote it into book ,,frankely speak i had never read this book but if most of the school prefer then i m very sure it is very nice book and everybody shld read it,,,,so instead of thinking why every school prefer this book u sld think what is the think there in that book so every school prefer it i think if u think like this way m sure it will be very inspired to read and think about that book.

i am fortunate that i don't have to learn that in my secondary school as i take science major... only those students who take social major had to take literature as one of the subject and they have to learn shakespeare... i don't like literature at all and i can never understand the language... so if i have to take the subject, i don't think i will be able to pass the subject... take care and have a nice day...

Until I was about 17 and had to read Shakespeare for A Level, I found that most of it went over my head. I had certainly enjoyed some of the plays (A Midsummer's Night Dream and the Tempest, for example) when I saw them acted but they don't work unless you can follow the plot and the language isn't easy, of course. It was only when our English teacher, bless her, started to organise play readings on Sunday afternoons that the plays - and the language - really began to come alive. There is a world of difference between watching actors on stage, however good, and actually taking the parts oneself. It is only that way that one learns that Shakespeare was using the common spoken language of his day, for the most part, but making it have rhythm and (sometimes) rhyme. We learned that the rhythm is actually the rhythm of normal speech and that, though the words he uses are somewhat different - and full of puns and double meanings that would have had the audiences rolling in the aisles, sometimes, though they are lost on us until we look at them carefully - the rhythm and accent of the English is very much as it is today. It was only by going through the dialogue and then having to read it with understanding and meaning that we began to love Shakespeare. I think that the plays are meant to be seen and especially to be read out loud as nearly normal conversation. It's important to become familiar with the language just as one would have to learn the dialect of another culture if one moved to another city. In fact, American English is probably rather closer in inflexion and accent to the language that Shakespeare spoke than modern Received ('Queen's') English - the language of the BBC - is today. Why should we have to read Shakespeare at all? Simply because Shakespeare's plays, his use of the language and his mastery of theatre still represent English at its peak of inventiveness and fun. The vocabulary and grammar may seem a little strange at first but it is actually far more comprehensible to most of us than the language of, say, the rap artist ... and equally as full of innuendo! If you are a teacher struggling with kids who are bored of this rather strange dialect, consider organising informal readings where they take part and get inside the skin of the plays. Forget about declaiming the speeches line by line so they can be heard at the back of a large auditorium. Read and understand them as the language that people spoke then - and actually not too far from the language people speak today.

Well during my high school years I I read a couple of Shakespeare plays with my teachers and it's true that the plays are hard to understand but then the teacher would help us understand the plays if we had problems. When I read the plays I didn't have much problems because with a dictionary I was able to understand words that I didn't know and if that didn't help me then I would ask the teacher. I like Shakespear too and he is really good. There are plays of his that I read and didn't need help at all. I think the main problem right now is that language that Shakespeare uses in his play. English has changed a lot since then and some students have no idea what he is talking about in his plays. The first time I set my eyes on a Shakespeare play I read a line and I was like "What the heck is he trying to say?" But after a while I learned to read that type of language and understand it.

Well, honestly, I found it easier to read Shakespeare's plays than to watch them. When you read them, it's easier to pick up on the puns, word play, and between the lines meanings that Shakespeare wrote into his plays. His writing was truly brilliant and I really enjoyed reading them in high school. That was one of the few things that I did enjoy reading of the required reading material. And let me tell you, we read some BORING books. I think the reason that they do Shakespeare in school is because it is classic literature. Shakespeare's work is timeless and I think it's important to learn how to understand writing that isn't the same as the writing that is commonly used today. It was tricky for me at first, but once I got used to it, I could read it with no problem.

Uh at least in my school, I never read that much of Shakespeare plays, nor acted them. Maybe only Romeo and Juliet, but that was just a veeeeeeery simple play and we where not even wearing costumes. I don't think it's any good to teach small kids such complex play at such a young age. Maybe for teenagers.