The good people of Hillsborough County Public School, Florida have lost the plot or at least censored the plot with only fragments of Shakespeare's plays being studied. The updated quote could be "To read or not to read, that is the question," although that has been decided in this case so that students read a wide variety of books. Surely this should include books that have been considered amongst the best for over 400 years.
The other concern expressed was that the stories might contain heavy material and yes, Shakespeare does have some colourful sections but so does the internet. The solution to protect students from these 400-year-old words would be for them to "get thee to a nunnery".
Truly this is a case of "the lady doth protest too much" and more sensible approaches, even the ludicrous trigger warnings could be considered. Let's hope that the policy is reviewed and "All's well that ends well."
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia