A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI (1 of 4 in a series)

I was not a good student until long after college. My high school education was mediocre at best — partly because of the school, but mostly because of me. I didn’t know how to study. I didn’t seek help. I had no real intellectual mentors. I was lazy in a quiet, unintentional way and never understood the bigger purpose or long-term path of a good education. I knew how to get through classes, most of the time, but not how to learn from them.

It took years before I realized what I had missed and why those required English literature courses mattered far more than I ever understood at the time. What educators were really trying to give me — and every student — was not just exposure to books, but the foundation for thinking, communicating, understanding, and living well.

This essay explains what those courses are actually designed to teach, why they matter, and why they still matter in a world now shaped by artificial intelligence.

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1. The Ability to Understand Complex Texts

A central purpose of literature education is to build the skill of reading difficult material — the kind students will face throughout their adult lives. High school graduates, and especially college graduates, must be able to read:

• Long, nuanced arguments
• Old or formal language
• Symbolic or poetic writing
• Dense reports, court opinions, contracts, and historical documents

Literature is the training ground for that ability.

Shakespeare teaches students how to decode older forms of English. Faulkner tests their patience and perseverance. Austen reveals the layers beneath social formality. Toni Morrison stretches their emotional and cultural imagination.

As students wrestle with these texts, they develop a quiet but essential confidence:
“I can understand things that are difficult.”
That confidence becomes a life skill.

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2. Understanding How Literature Works

Educators also want students to understand the machinery behind writing — the basic tools every author uses to create meaning.

Students learn:

• Metaphor (the green light in The Great Gatsby)
• Symbolism (the conch shell in Lord of the Flies)
• Point of view (Scout’s innocent narration in To Kill a Mockingbird)
• Irony (Orwell’s weapon of choice in Animal Farm)
• Imagery and diction (Frost’s careful simplicity)

The goal is not to create literary critics. The goal is to give students the ability to recognize how language shapes thought. A person who understands how a story works is better equipped to understand political messaging, advertising, public relations, or even everyday persuasion.

This is why literature is not a luxury — it’s training in how not to be fooled.

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3. Cultural Literacy: Joining the Human Conversation

There are certain books, ideas, and stories that form a shared cultural foundation. Literature courses introduce students to the stories that have shaped society, not because they are old, but because they remain true.

Students learn why:

• Sophocles still speaks to our conflicts between conscience and law.
• Shakespeare still reveals jealousy, ambition, love, and betrayal.
• Dickens still exposes economic injustice and compassion.
• Orwell still warns us about surveillance, language manipulation, and authoritarianism.
• Austen still exposes pride, social pressure, and misunderstanding.

A culturally literate student becomes a culturally capable adult — someone able to participate in discussions about society, politics, ethics, and history.

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4. Critical Thinking: The Lifelong Skill

Perhaps the most valuable outcome of English literature education is critical thinking.

In reading, students must ask:

• What is the author really saying?
• Why did they choose this perspective, this language, this structure?
• What assumptions lie underneath the text?
• What does this reveal about the world or human nature?

A student who can interpret a complex novel can interpret a tax policy, a city budget, a political speech, or a scientific claim.
A student who can evaluate a character’s flawed reasoning can evaluate flawed reasoning in real life.

Literature is not merely about stories. It is about sharpening the mind’s ability to see clearly.

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5. Communication and Writing Mastery

Every literature course is also a writing course, whether students realize it or not. The act of writing about literature teaches students to:

• Argue from evidence
• Organize thoughts coherently
• Write with clarity and purpose
• Support ideas logically
• Use language with precision

These skills matter in every field: law, finance, medicine, management, politics, engineering, ministry, and public service.

A student who can explain the theme of Macbeth can write a clear email, a persuasive memo, a professional proposal, or a thoughtful report. Writing is not an English-specific skill — it is a leadership skill.

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6. Empathy, Imagination, and Emotional Intelligence

Developing the mind is not enough. Literature develops the heart.

When students read:

• Elie Wiesel’s Night they encounter the raw trauma of the Holocaust.
• Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus they glimpse life in postcolonial Nigeria.
• Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men they feel loneliness and dignity in the lives of the marginalized.
• The Odyssey teaches themes of homecoming, loyalty, and courage.

Literature gives students the ability to imagine lives that are not their own.
It cultivates empathy — the ability to understand and care about other people’s experiences.

This is not sentimental. It is essential for citizenship, leadership, community, and family.

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7. Why Literature Still Matters in the Age of AI

In a world where artificial intelligence can summarize, rewrite, and generate text in seconds, some people ask whether traditional literature education still matters.

It matters more than ever.

AI can produce words, but it cannot replace judgment.

Only a well-educated human being can tell whether a paragraph is wise, ethical, manipulative, or true.

AI can generate information, but it cannot generate insight.

Insight is born only from a well-trained mind — one capable of making connections, recognizing patterns, understanding motives, and evaluating consequences.

AI can mimic style, but it cannot understand meaning.

Understanding meaning requires the human experiences literature cultivates: empathy, cultural awareness, emotional maturity, and moral imagination.

AI can assist thinking, but it cannot replace thinkers.

A person who has never read deeply cannot judge whether an AI’s output is sound.
A person who has read deeply can use AI the way a carpenter uses a tool — with skill, caution, and purpose.

This is why literature education is not obsolete in the age of AI. It is the antidote to shallow thinking in a time of overwhelming information.

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Conclusion: The Mind, The Heart, and The Citizen

When educators require English literature classes, they are not trying to burden students with book reports. They are trying to form capable human beings.

They want students to leave school with:

• The ability to read hard things
• The capacity to think deeply
• A sense of cultural inheritance
• The skill to write clearly
• The imagination to empathize
• The judgment to navigate an AI-driven future

I learned these truths later in life, long after I realized how much I had coasted through school. But I now understand that English literature — at its best — does not simply teach books. It teaches people how to live, how to think, how to understand others, and how to contribute meaningfully to society.

It is one of the few subjects that strengthens both the mind and the soul. It is why I think, research and blog.