People say that it is a waste of time for high school students to learn literature such as novels and poems. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It has been argued that studying

literature

in high

school

is completely useless. While I acknowledge certain benefits brought about by learning

literature

at

this

level, I believe that including

this

subject in the high

school

curriculum can be a waste of time for the majority of

students

. Requiring

literature

education at the high-

school

level has some positives. One of them is increasing

students

’ cultural awareness. When they come across national and international authors’ biographies and their works,

such

as novels, poems and other pieces of classic

literature

, readers deepen their understanding of not only their own but

also

the world’s cultural heritage. Studying

literature

can

also

help

students

try something new in their educational careers.

This

is especially likely to be helpful for those who are still undecided about what they are going to do after graduating from high

school

, for engaging in activities like fiction writing, editing and literary analysis might spark their interest in

literature

and start a career in

this

. In my view,

however

, learning

literature

would waste most high

school

students

’ valuable time.

This

is because they simply are not keen on reading lengthy novels or learning time-consuming poems by heart, which is evident by their short attention spans. In

this

sense, if

students

are not interested in

this

particular subject,

then

including it in a high

school

program is not sensible.

Furthermore

, the high-

school

agenda is already full of the most crucial subjects,

such

as science, foreign languages and physical education, so

literature

, if included in the syllabus, tends to put extra strain on

students

. To sum up,

literature

can be of some value for

students

to improve their cultural familiarity and try something different.

Nevertheless

, I think that most high

school

students

would neither be interested nor pleased with studying

literature

.

School

authorities should

therefore

consider making

this

subject optional to study.