Just in: Hillsboro High students forced to learn Shakespeare

Hillsboro High student and chairman of the Mayor's Youth Council, Yousuf Ahmad writes in today's Tennessean about a classmate who aspires to be a mechanic but is losing interest in school because he is "forced to learn about Shakespeare."

Oh dear.

Ponder for a moment, if you will, the millions of people in this world that would love to be forced to learn about Shakespeare. Yeah, I know, he's a dead white guy. But he's a dead white guy who added thousands of words to the English vocabulary - at a time when the average Englishman's total vocabulary was about 500 words. He gave us phrases like "star crossed lovers," "it was Greek to me," and "the lady doth protest too much." He wrote 38 plays, 15 sonnets and 5 poems.

His tragic plays and comedies are timeless stories of humanity's struggle. His history plays tell us that when it comes to power, love and war, very little has changed in 500 years. The structure and rhythm of Shakespeare's writing has informed the writing styles of almost every author and speechwriter since. It is hard to imagine John F. Kennedy's "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" without "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

I will concede that Shakespeare did not write anything about rebuilding '67 Corvette engines. I will also concede that Mr. Ahmad's friend will make a fine mechanic without learning about Shakespeare. But I submit to you that learning what you think you don't need to know is one of the most important skills you will acquire in school. Your future is not cast in stone. What you find irrelevant today may become important tomorrow.

Even if Shakespeare never becomes relevant in your life, it will enrich it. My father owned an auto repair/tire distribution business. He could quote Shakespeare from memory until the day he died.