[…] I recommend recurring training.

For clarity, do you mean, for example, being required to re-pass a drivers test to renew one’s license?

Instead of adding it to a mandatory school curriculum, would you be satisfied with a more strict licensing process?

More what I’m getting at, regardless of language used in Shakespeare is whether you think Shakespeare, as a whole, is obsolete. So, iiuc, you aren’t saying that you think that Shakespeare, as a whole, is obsolete, but that that the language used within it is, which makes it difficult to read?

[…] I propose that teaching Shakespeare instead of more in depth driver’s ed isn’t entirely ethical. […]

I think you misunderstood me. To be completely fair, I was rather vague. I wasn’t arguing that one was more ethical than the other. My argument about ethics was from the perspective of further subsidizing something that already receives enormous subsidies — ie driving and cars (this is conjecture at the moment, but I can go into more detail if you’d like).

[…] If they get something wrong behind the wheel of a car, what’s the worst that can happen? […]

Out of curiosity, do you live in an area that doesn’t require a driver’s license in order to be legally allowed to drive on a public road?

How many hours of the average American’s life will be spent behind the wheel of a car? […]

Would it be a goal of yours to reduce the amount of time that one spends driving in their life? If so, do you think that teaching drivers ed in school will achieve that end?

[…] replace it with a semester of “living in the world” lessons that might just be a week of driver’s ed, that field trip to the fire department, some first aid, just cram a semester full of basic adulting skills.

Okay, but that isn’t what you said prior — that’s shifting the goalpoasts. You specifically said

[…] Replace them with a semester of […] fire safety […]

[…] the reason we teach Shakespeare in high schools is because English teachers like it […]

Hm, this feels like conjecture. Do you have proof of that?

[…] reading a Shakespeare play is an exercise in translation as much as comprehension […]

[…] It may have more of a value in teaching the history of the English language than a reading comprehension exercise. […]

I am a little confused now — is this you agreeing that reading Shakespeare improves reading comprehension?

Nope, that’s not how education works. Due to the Principle of Effect, lessons which are too confusing can do more harm than good. If, as some other commenters have suggested, students are arriving to 12th grade English class reading at an elementary school level, handing them a copy of Hamlet isn’t going to accomplish anything, it’ll just frustrate them, convince them that they really can’t do this and they’ll just give up. Even honors students who are reading at advanced levels might start second guessing themselves. […]

I wasn’t arguing that Shakespeare would make the students more interested in literature. I was only arguing that the act of reading, no matter what is being read (within reason), improves one’s reading comprehension.

I think it’s important to define exactly how “this thead” is being used in this context. When I use “this thread”, it’s to refer to our exchange of comments; it doesn’t refer to all comments under OP’s post. I’m not sure if there’s an official definition for the term — perhaps I am not using the term in a commonly understood way. I think it’s also important to define “on topic”, though that may be a bit more difficult in this context. I would argue that we are on topic, but I don’t have a super precise way to define it — perhaps you do?

So, other than literature, are there some English-derived classes that you think would be good to teach?

Can you ping the Jellyfish server from the laptop? Can any other device access the Jellyfish server?

Personally, I’m asking it because I’m considering running an instance of my own, and I want to know what to expect. This is an issue that concerns me.

[…] I don’t think that’s necessarily true, because 1. a lot of the vocabulary is just…not English anymore. […] Comprehending the play by reading the dialog alone is difficult because the context is missing. […]

I think you may be missing the point that I was trying to make. I agree with your opinion that think Shakespeare can be difficult to read, but, regardless of that, trying to comprehend it is still trying to comprehend it. If one is practicing their reading comprehension, no matter the difficulty of the material, imo it could still be said that they are improving their comprehension. Now, it could be that there is material that is more efficient at improving one’s reading comprehension ability than Shakespeare, but I think that’s a separate argument.

Make English 4 if not English 3 electives rather than required. Replace them with a semester of […] how to safely refrigerate chicken

Imo, this is something that can be taught in a basic foods/cooking class, or a home economics class (which has at least been taught in the past ^[1] — I haven’t found any current data).

Make English 4 if not English 3 electives rather than required. Replace them with a semester of […] fire safety […]

I disagree that this should be in some form of course. I think that this can be taught in a short afternoon visit by a fire department — it may even be already.

Make English 4 if not English 3 electives rather than required. Replace them with a semester of driver’s ed […]

I disagree. Imo, there isn’t any point to teaching driving skills to students. Imo, I also don’t believe that it would be entirely ethical.

Make English 4 if not English 3 electives rather than required.

For clarity, are you saying that you don’t think that it should be mandatory that English, or any of its derivatives, be taught as a course to children?

I think later high school English classes do more to beat any love of reading teenagers have out of them by force feeding them […] obsolete shit […]

How are you defining “obsolete” in this context?