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Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
When I see 1-star reviews of classic books, I commonly see statements of being made to read it for school. I'd rather schools not try to make students read great literature, as I think it actually discourages reading. If reading isn't enjoyable, people won't read.
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As with everything in education, there are conflicting views on why we teach what we teach. There is definitely a view that we should be encouraging reading of any form, to improve literacy (and, arguably, to allow for differences in the needs and interests of individual students). Yet there is also a need to expose students to reading at deeper levels, for information and interpretation.
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Asimov had a number of stories dealing with the edges of the three laws. One story allowed robots to harm humans because the robots were programmed with a very narrow definition of human.
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Yet that story wasn't really about the robots. It was about the people. By modifying our definition of a person, we are able to slip into our baser instincts and disregard higher principles. (It was the laws of robotics in that case. Presumably he also meant the laws laid down by governments and religions in the more general sense.)