This is a question many students ask when they start college and realize that their core classes have a literature requirement. Students may wonder why, if they are going into nursing, for example, they must spend their time reading a two-hundred-year-old story written by someone who would have had very little in common with them, and which has nothing to do with nursing. 

The answer to this question could take up volumes of books itself, because it is an important question and a highly philosophical one. I will, however, just give a short answer here. Colleges generally require literature classes as a part of the core curriculum to make sure students are getting a well-rounded education. Even as a nursing major or a computer programming major, students need to know how to critically apply reading comprehension and analysis to a text and draw conclusions from it. If colleges know their students are graduating with this capability, they can be more confident that their students will go on to be stronger members of the community, whatever their chosen field may be. 

See the videos linked below for perspectives on why reading literature is important and valuable. 

Lost Art of Literature: In a World of Instant Gratification | William Brittain | TEDxFranklin

The Benefits of Reading | Ella Lee | TEDxYouth@MBJH