If I had a dollar for every comment that Shakespeare is irrelevant and that we should just do away with its impracticable content for today's world, I would be rich.
As an English teacher, my love of Shakespeare started to form in high school but then really took off when I was the one that had to teach it to teens. How do I make these stories relate to a modern teen? How do I help them understand what they claim to be "Old English"? And what is going to be my prepared answer when they ask me why do they have to learn this?
I think the answer is because we should read pieces of genius, that Romeo and Juliet are really not all that different from teen love today and that there is so much that is hidden in the Bard's work where reading between the lines and making connections are critical. But I have also discovered something else today.
As I sit in the doctor's office I noticed a copy of New Scientist with Shakespeare on the cover on the coffee table. Shakespeare on the cover of a science magazine? It seems that Shakespeare's works still hold valuable clues when it comes to the knowledge of celestial bodies in the 1500s, the existence and symptoms of many mental illnesses, and even how the grandnesd of his vocabulary moves our brains.
Now this is cross-curricular if I have ever seen it.
To think that I can now tie in information from the plays to how Shakespeare talks about the stars is sure to make some science teachers happy. And link to the characters' mental illnesses definitely relates to the large focus on mental health right now. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad that there are still non-English majors out there that are trying to fight for Shakespeare to stay alive, giving more reasons for why he is so important. Now...if we can only convince the teenagers.
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