My experience in middle and high school (yes in America) we had a lot of Orwell and Vonegett as assigned readings built into the curriculum, and the books were sufficiently worn and yellowed, the projector transparencies sufficiently photocopier burned and the tapes sufficiently scratchy and worn to indicate these books had been part of the curriculum for at least a decade or more before I went through it.
In American schools? Neither myself or anyone I know has ever been asked to read anything from Orwell.
My experience in middle and high school (yes in America) we had a lot of Orwell and Vonegett as assigned readings built into the curriculum, and the books were sufficiently worn and yellowed, the projector transparencies sufficiently photocopier burned and the tapes sufficiently scratchy and worn to indicate these books had been part of the curriculum for at least a decade or more before I went through it.