At Trinity School of Midland, teachers promote reading for our students. We read many classics in the Upper School ranging from Lord of the Flies to Hamlet, and I contend that classics are important to discover the difference between a good book and literature. I also feel that teenagers need to read classics in a class environment because very few students can appreciate a book from the nineteenth century without a little guidance. I certainly agree that not everyone will enjoy The Scarlet Letter; however, it is a book that shaped America, and we should at least ponder the reasons why. Also, we find allusions to classic literature in the most unexpected places. Broadway audiences understand the musical Hamilton better after reading Macbeth. Thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda for making many young thespians interested in Shakespeare’s play with these lines:

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day. I trust you’ll understand the reference to another Scottish tragedy without my having to name the play. They think Macbeth. . . . Madison is Banquo, Jefferson’s Macduff, and Birnam Wood is Congress on its way to Dunsinane.”