wondering??

This week I just got my test result. Actually I am not satisfied with my result because I do not do as well as I expected. But in the process of studying, I get more understanding from my reading and I finally realized that this is what my lecturer had been teaching all this while. I get to know more deeply about the history of drama after what I had read for the test. But I was wondering. Is it so important for the students to know so much about the history of drama than to know about the play and the story itself? Do we teachers need to explain to the students about the history of drama? Is it necessary to do that in school? To me, I feel that students are more concerned about the the play and not of the history because at the end, the examination questions will focus more on the play. As we know now, students are more exam-oriented. They does not care about anything that does not related to the subject, instead they are more interested in what the important content that can be used in their examination.