re: Are Animal Farm and 1984 still required reading in High School?

Orwell was a socialist but his views were altered after fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He saw the carnage caused by the infighting amongst the various communist factions.
He also wrote about the hypocrisy of many of the well off British socialist.
Unlike the typical socialist wing nut of today he had quite a bit of life experience and tempered his views based on that experience.