Poetry and literature (was Re: Eighth Grade Education circa - 1895 - - (long)

[Carol]

> Potioncat wrote:
> All I could have told you about the first was that it was a Romance
Poet. Which I guessed because I remembered you had written about
Romance poets before.

Carol responds:
Not Romance. Romantic. The English Romantic poets had ties to German
Romanticism, especially Goethe. ("Roman" means "novel," as you
probably remember from "bildungsroman.") 
> 
> I knew Poe and the Raven at once.
> 
> My school district names most of the middle schools after American
authors. Poe Middle School has a raven as the mascot. <snip> 
> Symbol or image might be a better word.
> 
> My son goes to Washington Irving Middle School. He's been very 
> annoyed that "some mother" was offended by the violent image of the 
> Headless Horseman and caused the school to change its mascot. 
> 
> I asked if the new mascot was Rip Van Winkle. (Not a good idea in my 
> opinion.) It became the rock because there's a large rock on the 
> front lawn that is regularly painted by the art class. "Who wants a 
> rock for a mascot!" my son complained. So he was very happy to 
> announce that the student body president had managed to get the 
> school to reverse its policy and to return the Headless Horseman as 
> the symbol. I guess Headless had been out for about 4 years.

Carol:
Hooray for schools named after authors and mascots (or symbols) from
their books, and boo! to the morons who condemn them without
understanding them (or ever having read the books). Kids love "The
Headless Horseman," or, at least, boys do. If it gets them to read,
why criticize it? And the story, in any case, is a lot less violent
than the programs kids watch on TV. Who wants a rock for a mascot?" is
right!

Potioncat: 
> At Mark Twain Middle School, so my son says, someone complained
about the "hoboes" who were the image, and had it changed to the
panthers from the official "travellers."  It makes me think the
parents who complain must not understand the connection between the
image and the  name. Sad, isn't it?

Carol:
Very! And what do panthers have to do with Mark Twain? How about
substituting the jumping frog of Calaveras County? Surely, no one
could object to that.

Carol, noting that schools here seem to be named after school board
members whose names have no meaning for the students, or geographical
features like mountain ranges