While Reading "Macbeth," "Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and [you'll] not fail."

One of the most quoted and seminal poets of our time is Shakespeare, a man who is solely responsible for infusing today's language with 1,600 phrases, and is the only known man in literature who has an Elvis Presley reputation: the King has his name, and Shakespeare has his - the Bard. Why, then, does a man who has such an infinite knowing of the human psyche instill fear and dread in his readers? If you are a high school student, or if you remember your high school days, reading Shakespeare was about as fun as getting a root canal, although, in most cases, sadly, the root canal would be preferred. For the sage that said in "Macbeth," "'Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep ...'" (531), it would probably come as a surprise to him that many students think he, himself, has murdered any fun in the high school canon. Students just think that Shakespeare is b8%$ng (I can't bring myself to type out the accursed word). Why are students so circumspect in digging into Shakespeare like anyone of his gravediggers that besprinkle his plays? His words are the things that make reading him in high school have such a sting.
Yes, many would be surprised to find out that as archaic and intimidating as Shakespeare's words may sound, they are still considered modern language. I'll wait for the suprised gasps to end ... that is right. If you were to follow the timeline of the English language (God bless it!), you'd find that old English doesn't even look like anything that resembles what we know of today as English. Considering this, it is easy to put in perspective that as foreign as it may sound to some ears--especially ears of the high school kind--that Shakespeare's language is, indeed, modern English. But the sting also comes not just from the words, but from the fallacious thinking that Shakespearean plays are just not that interesting. The human spirit is a mystery, and the high school spirit is even more confounding.
Being a high school teacher in the depths of "Macbeth" with my students, I've had a chance to probe them about why they are so reluctant to appreciate the play, and they are hard-pressed to come up with any redeeming qualities about the work itself. However, they also do not see the connection between the universal ideas that Shakespeare espoused, and the very same ideas that they find in contemporary movies and books of today. They would rather read The Outsiders. And granted this book does have some great plot, students fail to realize that the plots are even juicier and more titillating in "Macbeth," and other plays as well. So, as a parent who might be frustrated with the lack of enthusiasm your child has of his schooling, what suggestions can be offered to you?
Some of the suggestions I have are to be a bit as devious as the villainous Macbeth. Even though I've found the kids proclaiming their boredom from here to Verona--where we lay our mutinous scene--a little encouragement and accountability on their parts go a long way. In school, my success has been in getting the kids to do the thinking in cooperative groups, and then make a game out of their answers. I randomly assign numbers, and when the number is called, the person assigned those numbers stands up, and talks about the answers the group came up with in their assignments. Because it's an arbitrary assigning, the pressure is alleviated, and the encouragement from the teacher puts them in a productive, and most importantly, open state of mind so that they can appreciate what they used to denounce.
If students regularly get those assignments that put them in the thinking "hot seat," and if it is done in a way that encourages a friendly learning environment, they wouldn't be so "brainsickly" in nature to Shakespeare's genius. It would do Lady Macbeth proud.