There are certain things in life that fall under what seems to be the natural order of things. In the American education system, specifically, certain pieces of literature you can almost guarantee will find their way into every classroom. For kindergarteners, it may be “Llama Llama Red Pajama,” for middle-schoolers, one may guess“Harry Potter.” For many high school students, it is almost a given that they are headed through the world of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” or “The Tragedie of Macbeth.” However, today, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest school-aged children are showing less interest in what have been considered classics in American literature for generations.
Whether you find the fact concerning or necessary, one must wonder why these titles are losing relevance among younger generations. My personal hypothesis is that it has more to do with the changes going on in the world around us. As technology advances, we are exposed to a multitude of different viewpoints, theories and ideas, which all promote a global perspective. This allows children a greater variety of book choices, including more diverse and modern titles. Additionally, statistics showed this decline may also be due to the fact that school-aged children are becoming less interested in reading as a hobby. This past August, Forbes magazine published an article surrounding this same topic, citing a study done by the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup 2025 “Voices of Gen Z,” which found that “35% of Gen Z K-12 students say they dislike reading, and 43% say they rarely or never read for fun.”
In addition to these, however, another determining factor of which stories today’s children are choosing is also connected to which ones they have access to. In recent years, there has been a wave of politicization surrounding the books allowed in schools across America. Many of thesecriticized works have been challenged or completely removed from schools due to what is considered their controversial content, such as ones that explore ideas of racism, sexuality, LGBTQ+ themes or mental health. Among these well-loved classics that have faced criticism is Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, due to its themes of racial injustice. As a result, children across America lose accessibility to not only the meaningful dialogue and lessons within each one of these novels, but also some of the most celebrated titles in U.S. history.
Although I maintain that some of the changes are beneficial and maybe even inevitable, it causes me to wonder what, if any, of our values as a society are being erased along with them. Do today’s children understand the dangers of hypocrisy or judgment displayed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”? Do they grapple with the dangers of censorship found in George Orwell’s “1984?” Furthermore, it makes me wonder whether or not today’s school children are even equipped with the cognitive skills and comprehensive abilities to grasp the depth values such as those found in the likes of these books.
It can be quite daunting when we ponder what these changes mean for the future. As everything in our world is constantly evolving, it raises the question of how school systems will be pressured to keep up with the changing times. While modern text options allow for more diverse voices to make headway, I believe that many of these classics still hold a meaningful place in our history today. Rather than completely forgoing these books, I think it would be more beneficial for today’s students to continue reading them, so they are still able to reflect on the different values found within them. Instead, schools can build upon them by introducing more contemporary works, where students are given room to understand the framework for many books they read today, and build deeper connections by comparing them to these traditional texts. My personal hope is that even if some of these stories are no longer taught in schools, the invaluable lessons they hold are ones we never lose sight of as a human race.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.