On the one hand, I'd agree with what appears to be the majority of you in that being forced to read a work will typically result in my not enjoying it. In my case, being that I am a pretty poor student if I don't really enjoy the subject, that led to me not reading the assigned material about 90% of the time. Given perhaps 5-10 books per year to complete through High School, I would actually finish only two or three. Because of the incredibly monotonous manner in which we analyzed most of the books - chapter by chapter, this didn't really matter a lot of the time, which is why until my final year I was able to get away with it and still pass with acceptable though not good marks. I could read the one chapter I had assigned to me, or copy off of someone else, with no real emotional or intellectual connection to the characters, themes, or plots of what I was reading and being tested on.
On the other hand, I don't think I see a better way of preparing a curriculum. As novella mentioned, assigned reading is a way to introduce students to new material... especially in this era of the diminished status of print, it is difficult for the vast majority of students to find reading material that suits them, or that they are comfortable with reading. Yes, assigning reading material might, in the hands of poor teachers (and there are many, many, many of these, especially young female english teachers) will train in some students a dislike of reading in general, but on the whole, it will still introduce enough students to new and exciting literature to be a worthwhile method of teaching.
The solution of the dilemma, of course, is to have amazing teachers teaching english (and any other course which requires reading), so that they can impart in their students a love of the material, but given teacher's status within our society, as well as their pay, benefits, etc ... it's not really likely.
As an aside, while I read hardly anything assigned to me through high school, I did read regularly on my own terms, and since school have kept that up, picking up several books that I should have read in high school but didn't, and found them to be quite enjoyable.
On the other hand, I don't think I see a better way of preparing a curriculum. As novella mentioned, assigned reading is a way to introduce students to new material... especially in this era of the diminished status of print, it is difficult for the vast majority of students to find reading material that suits them, or that they are comfortable with reading. Yes, assigning reading material might, in the hands of poor teachers (and there are many, many, many of these, especially young female english teachers) will train in some students a dislike of reading in general, but on the whole, it will still introduce enough students to new and exciting literature to be a worthwhile method of teaching.
The solution of the dilemma, of course, is to have amazing teachers teaching english (and any other course which requires reading), so that they can impart in their students a love of the material, but given teacher's status within our society, as well as their pay, benefits, etc ... it's not really likely.
As an aside, while I read hardly anything assigned to me through high school, I did read regularly on my own terms, and since school have kept that up, picking up several books that I should have read in high school but didn't, and found them to be quite enjoyable.