So help me, I'm backseat teaching is that the term?

Cedric, in 9th Grade English, just finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I remember reading it in school, most certainly remember the sad ending (after I asked him if he thought the ending was sad, his reply was "that's what you said at the end of the Outsiders too, Mom, are you going to ask me that at the end of every book?) Anyway, so I asked him if they talked about the title of the book.

After his blank look, I backed up and asked him about the poem. His eyes rolled in a way that confirmed that his teacher had not brought up the poem by Robert Burns

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

(thanks to Charli for reminding me of the title "To A Mousie").

He later told me he asked the teacher about the title and she assured him it was not part of the test.

I'm awfully surprised. And, to make me feel better, I found this on the online Cliffs Notes

Fate
Life’s unpredictable nature is another subject that defines the human condition. The title of the novel is taken from the poem of Robert Burns, “To a Mouse On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with a Plow,” November, 1785. Burns wrote that “The best laid schemes o’ mice and men / Gang aft a-gley [often go astray], / And lea’v us nought but grief and pain, / For promised joy.”
Just when it appears that George and Lennie will get their farm, fate steps in. Lennie just happens to be in the barn burying his dead pup when Curley’s wife comes in. In this case, fate is given a hand by Lennie’s inability to control his strength and understand what to do. Nevertheless, often life seems unpredictable and full of overwhelming difficulties.

I guess I'm not really a backseat teacher, though, because I haven't complained to her. Just to y'all!