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In reply to #20:  I'm glad you mentioned reluctant readers.  I've done several presentations about how powerful science fiction can be to get kids who don't ordinarily read for pleasure to read.  There's a ton of science fiction out there that does what fiction is supposed to do, which is to engage the reader.  But in addition to telling a good story (which is what you find if you assigned detective stories or westerns), science fiction has the added element of its science fictional idea.  Even a kid who hates reading can still join in a conversation about the possibilities of time travel or the repurcussions of a change in technology.

Here's a story that always gets the kids involved.  It's a very short piece that works even better if you have two good readers in the class read it aloud as a play.  It's Terry Bisson's "They're Made Out of Meat."  At http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html

I am an 8th grade English teacher with a mixture of students of many abilities. We recently comepleted a Time Travel Project by viewing the film "Somewhere in Time". When first introduced to the time travel idea, there were many groans because the students believed that time travel and fantasy itself was a boring topic. Since the film was made in 1980, the classes had never heard or seen it, so it was an entirely new experience for them. That film along with three fantasy short stories, gave them many quandaries to ponder.  There were several ways they could complete the project, using what they believed was their strongest skill. The artists could set up a comic story board, visual could design posters comparing past to present to future. One of the writing options included critical thinking about the types of problems one could encounter and the abuse of power by the wrong individuals. By offerering a variety of ways for students to get their point across, they will often find it more palatable to their syle, therefore being more open to the idea of the lesson in the first place.  Reluctant readers can be difficult to convince, but honestly, there was not one student who did not turn in a project. By the end, the skeptical were convinced that science fiction/fantasy, was an interesting topic..

I have always thought that there are many life lessons (social, political, religious, etc.) to be learned through the sci-fi genre. Harrison Bergeron is one title that I have used to spur discussion regarding freedom and free-thinking in our current society. 

Here are short stories that engage the reluctant readers (and the enthusiastic readers go to town on them). 

"All You Zombies," by Robert Heinlein.  This is the ultimate time travel paradox story.

"The Green Hills of Earth," by Robert Heinlein.  A great story of the power of poetry, the love of home, and the meaning of sacrifice.

"Harrison Bergeron," by Kurt Vonnegut.  This provocative story about individuality and equality asks what is beautiful in the human spirit, and why is it feared.

"Do You Want My Opinion," by M.E. Kerr.  What would high school be like if sex wasn't taboo, but sharing ideas was intimate and forbidden?

"The Silent Towns," by Ray Bradbury.  A funny and sad twist on the last man/woman on Earth story.

"The Veldt," by Ray Bradbury.  A children's play room reveals the extent of a family's dysfuntion.

"A Pail of Air," by Fritz Leiber.  A truly frightening end of the world story.

The previous list is all classics.  For more modern discussion provokers, try this pair:

"Second Person, Present Tense," by Daryl Gregory.  What, exactly is consciousness, and why do we need it?  The point of view character is a high school girl who has overdosed on a very dangerous drug.  Gregory discusses the ideas behind the story at http://darylgregory.com/stories/SecondPersonPresentTense.aspx

"Think Like a Dinosaur," by James Patrick Kelly.  A better version of "The Cold Equations," which is a good one too. 

I use "Harrison Bergeron" a lot.  My students always love it.  They're always slightly horrified at the ending and always make a joke about what the heck am I having them read, but they love it.

I should also mention that I use "Harrison Bergeron" along with "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury when I read Fahrenheit 451.  Lots of connnections between them.

As a reader and writer of science fiction and fantasy, I have found that those genres have been the red-headed stepchildren for a long time.  They often haven't been considered "real" literature.   What gets ignored is the fact that every novel involves a quest, and it doesn't matter if the end goal of it is emotional freedom, better self-understanding, the solution to a murder, a magical ring, or an alien world.  The important part is that the characters must deal with the same problems every human deals with: relationships, sadness, hunger, fear, love, abandonment, and so forth.  Whether we clothe the characters in period costume, modern dress, faerie wings, or Martian spacesuits, the characters must accomplish what they set out to do or else fail.  Either way, they must go on that quest.

Many of the classics are downright boring and irrelevant for modern readers, especially younger ones.  If we want to turn kids into readers, we have to give them something interesting to read. Faulkner or Hemingway frequently just doesn't do it.

I teach at college level, and the comments I hear from kids If we want them to read the classics, get them hooked on sci-fi and fantasy first.  Give them werewolves and vampires and ghosts and aliens, and that can whet their appetite for reading mainstream and classic literature.

In reply to #27:  Hear, hear!  My English department at the high school has been reading Kelly Gallagher's, Readicide, which makes much the same argument.  Not only do we often assign the classics, which aren't always appropriate to the readers, but then we overteach them.  Side by side journals, daily quizzes, lengthy character sketches, vocabulary work, read and respond prompts, etc. can suck the life out of any book.  It's no wonder that rather than building a love of reading in kids that we sometimes kill it.  Giving kids interesting choices to read doesn't mean giving up the classics, but it does mean striking a balance between sucking the life from books and letting books live.

I did not read sci-fi growing up and picked it up by accident, really.  Trying to keep up with my middle school students, I read the Shadow Children books by Peterson Haddix and fell in love.  Now, I do literature circles (if you haven't tried them, you should) with science fiction and find the sci-fi virgins love it when prompted with the right book to begin their journeys and the readers of sci-fi are crazy in love with this change in curriculum.  I use Feed, a lot of M. Haddix Peterson, City of Ember, Downsiders, and Singing the Dogstar Blues just to name a few.

LOL!  "sci-fi virgins"

I think that the rich short story tradition of science fiction is often overlooked, particularly for reluctant readers.  I keep anthologies in my room to loan.  Many stories are short enough for a reluctant reader to finish in a single class period, and the right story can turn them on either to other works by the same author, other works in the same style or on the same topic, or even onto novels.