Back to YA Lit

I spent another day at my school yesterday and discussed with my CT why the classes were not reading. The novel they are reading is The Scarlet Letter and with the majority of all the classes being male, I can see why the student may not read a novel. I asked my CT about YA lit and she said that in 11th grade she thinks its important to teach the classics because once the students get to college the professors expect you to have read them. I don't disagree with her; however, if the students are reading for lack of interest, I don't see a problem with allowing them to read a book they enjoy-especially this early in the year--to just get them to start reading. We start and Huck Finn and Connecticut Yankee in a couple weeks, so maybe these novels will spark the male's interest a little more. Let's hope...