If you went to high school in the United States anytime since the 1960s, you were likely assigned some of the following books: Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淩omeo and Juliet,鈥� 鈥淛ulius Caesar鈥� and 鈥淢acbeth鈥�; John Steinbeck鈥檚 鈥淥f Mice and Men鈥�; F. Scott Fitzgerald鈥檚 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥�; Harper Lee鈥檚 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird鈥�; and William Golding鈥檚 鈥淭he Lord of the Flies.鈥�

For many former students, these books and other so-called 鈥渃lassics鈥� represent high school English. But despite the efforts of reformers, both and , the most frequently assigned titles have never represented America鈥檚 diverse student body.

Why did these books become classics in the U.S.? How have they withstood challenges to their status? And will they continue to dominate high school reading lists? Or will they be replaced by a different set of books that will become classics for students in the 21st century?

The high school canon

The set of books that is taught again and again, broadly across the country, is referred to by literature scholars and English teachers as 鈥渢he canon.鈥�

The high school canon has been shaped by many factors. Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, especially 鈥淢acbeth鈥� and 鈥淛ulius Caesar,鈥� have been taught consistently , when the curriculum was determined by college entrance requirements. Others, like 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird,鈥� winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, were ushered into the classroom by current events 鈥� in the case of Lee鈥檚 book, . Some books just seem especially suited for classroom teaching: 鈥淥f Mice and Men鈥� has a straightforward plot, easily identifiable themes and is under 100 pages long.

Titles become 鈥渢raditional鈥� when they are passed down through generations. As the education historian Jonna Perrillo observes, of having their children study the same books that they once did.

The last period of significant change to the canon was during the 1960s and 1970s, when the largest generation of the 20th century, the baby boomers, went to high school. For instance, in 1963, at Evanston Township High School in Illinois revealed that 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird,鈥� first published in 1960, was by far the 鈥渕ost enjoyed book,鈥� followed by two books that had been published in the 1950s, J.D. Salinger鈥檚 鈥淭he Catcher in the Rye鈥� and Golding鈥檚 鈥淭he Lord of the Flies.鈥� None of these books were yet traditional, yet they became so for the next generation.

A comparison of national surveys conducted in 1963 and 1988 shows how several books that were introduced to the classroom when the boomers were students had become classics when boomers were teachers.

During the 1960s and 1970s, teachers even reframed 鈥淩omeo and Juliet鈥� as a contemporary work. Lesson plans from the era referred to its adaptations into 鈥溾�� 鈥� a musical that 鈥� and Franco Zefferelli鈥檚 of Shakespeare鈥檚 story of star-crossed lovers. It became the perfect hook for ninth graders in a study of Shakespeare that would conclude in 12th grade with 鈥淢acbeth.鈥�

Efforts to diversify

English education professor that, since the 1960s, 鈥渓eaders in the profession of English teaching have tried to broaden the curriculum to include more selections by women and minority authors.鈥� But in the late 1980s, according to his findings, the high school 鈥渢op ten鈥� still included only one book by a woman 鈥� Lee鈥檚 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird鈥� 鈥� and none by minority authors.

At that time, a was underway about whether America was a 鈥渕elting pot鈥� in which many cultures became one, or a colorful 鈥渕osaic鈥� in which many cultures coexisted. Proponents of the latter view argued for a multicultural canon, but they were ultimately unable to establish one. A 2011 survey of Southern schools by Joyce Stallworth and Louel C. Gibbons, published in 鈥淓nglish Leadership Quarterly,鈥� found that the five most frequently taught books were all traditional selections: 鈥淭he Great Gatsby,鈥� 鈥淩omeo and Juliet,鈥� Homer鈥檚 鈥淭he Odyssey,鈥� Arthur Miller鈥檚 鈥淭he Crucible鈥� and 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird.鈥�

One explanation for this persistence is that the canon is not simply a list: It takes form as stacks of copies on shelves in the storage area known as the 鈥渂ook room.鈥� Changes to the inventory require time, money and effort. Depending on the district, replacing a classic . And it would create more work for teachers who are already maxed out.

鈥淭oo many teachers, probably myself included, teach from the traditional canon,鈥� a teacher told Stallworth and Gibbons. 鈥淲e are overworked and underpaid and struggle to find the time to develop quality lessons for new books.鈥�

The end of an era?

Esau McCauley, the author of 鈥淩eading While Black,鈥� describes the list of classics by white authors as the 鈥�.鈥� At least two factors suggest that its dominance over the curriculum is coming to an end.

First, the battles over which books should be taught have become more intense than ever. On the one hand, progressives like the teachers of the growing call for the inclusion of books by – and they question the status of the classics. On the other hand, conservatives have challenged or successfully banned the teaching of many new books that deal with gender and sexuality or race.

PEN America, a nonprofit organization that fights for free expression for writers, reports 鈥溾�� in book bans. The outcome might be a literature curriculum that more resembles the political divisions in this country. Much more than in the past, students in conservative and progressive districts might read very different books.

Second, English Language Arts education itself is changing. State standards, such as those , no longer make the teaching of literature the primary focus of English class. Instead, there is a new emphasis on 鈥�.鈥� And while preceding generations of teachers voiced concerns about the distractions of and then , books may have an even smaller share of students鈥� attention in .

鈥淲e no longer live in a print-dominant, text-only world,鈥� the National Council of Teachers of English proclaims in . The group calls for English teachers to put less emphasis on books in order to train students to use and analyze a variety of media. Accordingly, students across the country may not only have fewer books in common, but they also may be reading fewer books altogether.

Why teach literature?

Over generations, English teachers have voiced many reasons to teach books, and the canon in particular: to instill a , foster , build and cultivate . These goals have little to do with the skills emphasized by contemporary academic standards. But if literature is going to continue to be an important part of American education, it is important to talk not only about what books to teach, but the reasons why.

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