When an English 11 Honors summer assignment was announced back during schedule signups, I was just as skeptical as everyone else in my English 10 class. But as the gasps and light cursing made their way into the air, I realized something that surprised even me.

This might not be a bad thing.

Those of us taking English 11 Honors next year are all probably aware of the summer assignment: to read Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” a play about the Salem witch trials.

English 11 Honors is an intensive class, and assigning summer homework is how the English department is showing us the workload that we have signed up for next year.

Some students have said that they don’t have time to do the assignment or complain that summer is meant for vacationing and relaxation. They miss the point. “The Crucible,” a short play, is hardly “War and Peace,” and we are given two months of summer vacation to read and think about  it — even more if we start early.

This makes it clear that the point of the assignment isn’t necessarily to test our reading ability or our writing skills. It’s a test of whether students are willing to take time and read the book carefully.

In other words, it’s a participation grade. Students who can’t complete such a straightforward assignment are not going to enjoy English 11 Honors. Those who have their summers completely booked to the point where they can’t afford to do a simple summer assignment shouldn’t even be signed up for E11 Honors.

Furthermore, the class is an opportunity to greatly improve our writing and analytical skills. Taking the class is a privilege, and reading a book over the summer is really quite a small price to pay.

Also, any student taking an advanced English course should be reading on their own time anyway. The summer assignment is simply a way to make official what students should be doing anyway.

Judging by the planning shown through their current curriculum, we should trust and respect the decision of the E11 Honors teachers to assign summer reading.