A 'political gadfly' in our area has taken on a new quest. Since Melville wrote Moby Dick in this county, he feels it should be required reading in the schools.
He's sending long, rambling emails to all English Teachers in the system.
First off, as one put it in her reply to him, 'I cannot change the required reading books, I lack the authority.'
'Second,' she continues, 'the number of grammar and spelling mistakes in your letter really, really are not going to collect English Teachers to your cause.'
It's getting hilarious.
Anyway, what i wanted to discuss was the reasons for putting a book on RR. Personally, i'd hope to choose books with some literary merit.
I don't disagree, Moby Dick has that.
But you want the students to learn something from their reading.
And I doubt todays public school students are going to be able to wade through Melville's paid-by-the-pound style to get anything out of it beyond a headache.
Hell, i couldn't get through Moby Dick.
Picking a book for pride of place? Why? This is not the same thing, quite, but it does remind me of governments that approve art based on the political leanings of the artist. That's not for learning, but propaganda.
WHERE he was when he wrote MD is not, to me, a reason to select literature for learning.
I can see picking some sentences out of the story to diagram, because you're really going to get your money's worth.