Throughout my academic career, and professional life, I have grudgingly read “fiction” of that sort, when required to in high school and undergrad. Did pretty well in it…in fact, earned a 99th percentile on the English CLEP exam at the age of seventeen, plus got nearly as high scores on teh English Lit and American Lit subject CLEP exams…

But after “having to” read fiction, I rarely have after that time. Nonetheless, I was the honor grad in poli sci/history and undergrad, earned a law degree, and did quite a bit of doctoral work before getting offered a nice position in consulting.

Fiction and literature appeal to some people, but not to others. If a hypothetical student loved those aforementioned courses, but hated studying government and history, is that wortthy of condemnation? Nah. People are different.

When I heard of the BYU option, I was reminded of the “Kobayashi Maru” test immortalized in Star Trek….in esssence, “how does one win in a situation that is de facto completely UN-winnable?” The Trek solution was basically “Change the Conditions of the Test.”

Some would call that cheating; I would deem it ingenious, and finding a viable way around an inherently silly (and ultimately discriminatory, from a socioeconomic sense in Oher’s case) requirement.