Let’s face it: mandatory reading in high school can be the worst. Between the rigorous academic standards of AP classes, preparing for the SAT and commitments to teams, part-time jobs and clubs, high school students often find themselves overscheduled. Websites like Sparknotes allow teens to conserve some much-needed time, while ensuring that they’re still prepared for any in-class pop quizzes. Even the students who find the time to read are often prone to skimming the books, in order to ensure that they will have time for other commitments.
Either way, from a high school perspective, the metaphorical representation of the green light in "The Great Gatsby" may seem trivial in comparison to filling out college applications, shopping for a prom dress or practicing your cheer routine. Mandatory reading tends to take a backseat in comparison to the pressures of your teenage years. When every minor setback feels like the end of the world, author’s prose offers little significance in the long run. Besides, as long as you graduated and made it into a decent college, who cares if you actually did the reading, right?
Now we’re adults. We successfully graduated to college. With the exception of an occasional lit course, novels have long since faded from our course requirements. However, like our high school counterparts, we continue to find ourselves overscheduled and scarce for time. Besides, who would want to read when you can stream all seven seasons of "Parks and Rec," why read the same books you got nothing from as a hormonal adolescent?
Between the stress of adulthood, and the ease of Netflix binging it’s easy to forget about your old required readings. Last year, the Pew Research Center reported that only seven in 10 Americans read a book in any format over the past year, the lowest percentage in history.
However, as an adult, your high school required reading can offer more benefits than they did when you were 16. These books are deemed classic for a reason. From "The Great Gatsby" to "Lord of the Flies," your mandatory reading has stood the test of time. Teachers around the nation do not require thousands of teenagers to read these books solely because they’re the instructors’ favorite.
Instead, the novels are understood to contain poignant truths about humanity’s innermost thoughts, motivators and darkness. Through their work, history’s greatest wordsmiths, philosophers and cultural satirists have crafted stories that have stood the test of time, speaking to millions of people from different eras, regions, and cultural backgrounds.
Although you may have missed these truths when you first picked up the book (or attempted to speed read the Sparknotes entry before class) you've become wiser as you've gotten older. You've gleaned insight into the real world, its triumphs and challenges.
These insights will allow the stories to speak more clearly to you, as you relate more directly with a text and its characters. Dorian Gray becomes a far more understandable character after attending a frat party, just as "The Odyssey"
makes much more sense if you've ever found yourself lost or separated from your friends, with an intense desire to make it home to your bed after a long night on the town.
Your experience and increased knowledge will allow the stories to speak to you on a profound level, bringing you more depth, realism and emotional poignancy than they did in your high school years, making the once-required reading truly essential in adult life.