I am a high school English teacher. I've made the following statements many times here at FR and they are appropriate here:
PLEASE get involved with your local school system! Ask to see the curriculum. Find out which books are being taught.
The classics are being phased out for many reasons - some political and some relating to the fact that teachers are giving up because they're "too hard" (read "students too lazy"). However, the biggest reason is that no one is objecting!
Dont' have kids in school? It doesn't matter! It's your tax dollars. It's your community. And, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, it's your country.
If only a few people get together, THEY WILL RESPOND! Adminstrators hate controversy and, believe it or not, many teachers will love you for it.
My life was formed by my 5th grade english teacher, Mr Cockey (and yes we had fun with that) who assigned these books for the year: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, and Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge. Pretty heady stuff for 10 year olds and I thank him for it. This was in a public elementary school in Md.