It is fiction. It is compact and tight. It contains all the elements novels contain. It can be discussed in a few classes. Scholars can read many short stories in the same time they may need to read a novel.
Scholars can write their own short story.
But above all literature is crucial in problem solving and in critical thinking. Recently I have transformed my eleventh and twelfth grade English classes into Cyber English classes. I came from a very traditionalist kind of teaching background. I began teaching English in 1974 in prep schools in New England in a very traditinal way. In 1983 I began teaching in a New York City public high school.