I don't claim to know the current thinking but, to me, it makes sense that the focus should be on "classic" literature (for which The Lottery qualifies) that's also approachable. I'd argue that a lot of Hemingway and Fitzgerald do as well--though I don't fully understand the popularity of The Old Man and the Sea.

I liked reading in high school and most of the 19th and 18th century works I read bored me to tears and I probably ended up at least partly just reading the Cliff Notes. Today, I expect I would go to Wikipedia.