I remember very little about middle school, but one of the few things that stands out is my love of reading. All of my free time was spent with books from series like “Percy Jackson,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Harry Potter” and more. Then, something weird happened when I went to high school — all my passion for reading evaporated.

I was in quarantine and you’d think I would use all that free time to tear through mountains of books. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

You’re probably immediately jumping to the phone conclusion — we all have phones and get distracted. However, I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and didn’t use technology every Saturday. Saturdays were the perfect day to read, but after middle school, I noticed that a lot of my religious friends and I stopped reading, instead resorting to hours of board games, basketball and screen time when the day was finally over. We all seemed to have lost the will to read and, most notably, the love of reading that punctuated our middle school years had dwindled.

Reading has numerous benefits, from strengthening your brain to improving creativity. In particular, reading from a young age can expand your vocabulary and improve your memory. I know reading is a positive habit to build, so in college, I’ve tried to restore my love of reading. But once you lose a habit, it is very difficult to build it back.

The primary cause of losing the will to read can be attributed to one specific culprit — high school English class.

The curricula of high school English classes are not designed to promote a love of reading — they are designed to force kids to read what are considered “the classics.” Maybe this was unique to my school, but in ninth grade, we had to read “Julius Caesar,” “Beowulf,” “The Once and Future King” and “The Odyssey.” These are not the types of books a ninth-grader would choose and being forced to read them killed my will to read.

As high school went on, the books we read in English classes got a little better, but the damage had been done. I no longer went to books when I wanted something to pass my time.

Another issue with how my high school English classes were run was the amount we were expected to read and how we were expected to read it. We were forced to read a specific number of pages a night for writing literary essays. Strict page numbers prevent students from reading at their own pace and enjoying the flow of reading. Instead, assigned page numbers make what could be an enjoyable activity another piece of busy work.

Reading a set number of pages a night for the purpose of writing essays took the joy out of the books. Things that could’ve been interesting instead had to be overanalyzed and picked apart every class. Rather than reading to discuss the plot and characters, we selected specific sentences to identify rhetorical devices, which took all the imagination and creativity out of English class.

I have a couple of ideas that could solve this issue and restore high school students’ love of reading. One of my suggestions is to stop requiring ninth- and tenth-graders to read Shakespeare. Shakespeare is incredibly hard to comprehend, even when performed, and making a 14- or 15-year-old read a Shakespeare play is a surefire way to make kids stop loving books.

High school English classes should also include more choice in what is read. Once or twice a semester, students should be able to choose a book to read — within reason — and then produce a project about it. They would still be doing serious reading, but with a little more creativity and variety than in typical curricula.

I wish my love of reading had survived high school, and I think these changes could’ve helped preserve it. The reading drought is a serious issue and as more and more students are raised with phones and internet access, teachers should try their best to keep reading a pastime that students love. If high school prioritized fostering a love of reading rather than busywork, students would enter college more prepared for increased literary workloads.

Adin Linden is a freshman double-majoring in linguistics and English. [ITALICIZE]

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial. [ITALICIZE]