The schools probably don’t teach Shakespeare much any more, so how can he be a statistical favorite? Chances are they teach one work by Shakespeare, if that. Instead they bring in low-brow popularizing works. You know, the ones the students can or will or have seen on video. After all, they reason, “they have to keep the kids “engaged.” The truth is the teachers themselves have been schooled the same way, so this is all they know. If they do know different, the administrators present them with official, approved and dictated reading lists.
I love that adage: keeping them engaged. Yup. Forget about learning beyond a Nono second of concentration and analysis.