[Scienceisgood]

Hey Guys;

Was just wondering but do you remember reading all those boring books which no one really pays much attention to any more? I was just wondering but would you like to see Harry Potter as a reading material in schools and if it was, what do you think the results would be like?

[EarthGirl]

Ooh, that's an interesting question!I wonder if some schools already study Harry Potter in lessons?I vaguely remember hearing some schools were studying Twilight...that would be awful.

Being a Potterhead, in some ways I'd love to look really deeply into one of my favourite book series, but I don't know if I'd find it weird reading it with other people who don't like/understand HP how I do :P

I think results would be generally positive in schools since most people have at least watched the films.Yet like with any book you read at school they'll be some who hate it.

[madders94]

I would have loved to have studied Harry Potter in school; the only book we studied that I enjoyed was To Kill A Mockingbird, the rest have been ridiculously boring and I've resented reading them. Having to study Wuthering Heights has destroyed it for me when, if I'd read it for fun, it might have been okay.

[shorty.loves.angels]

I would have hated to be forced to read anything with such a strong theme. I don't necessarily dislike the topics, but I think to please large groups of kids you have to avoid themes where there will be lovers and haters. At least with 'Of Mice and Men' and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' there are general themes which everyone can relate to in some way; you are much less likely to see a divide or people having strong aversions to them.

That's just my opinion as if I was a kid reading them though, I guess. Maybe experienced English teachers will be able to contradict this!

[iamyourspiritfrombeyondth]

Fine for primary school. But it's not real literature.

[Also Known As]

At my high school, I remember the "slower" kids got to read Harry Potter. I remember seeing stuff on the boards about themes like love and sacrifice. But those of us in the honors or regular track were stuck reading Shakespeare, or worse.

[wildrover]

When I'm a priamry teaher they wil lbe read in my classroom regardless of what the jobsworths say.

[Bella_trixxx]

(Original post by iamyourspiritfrombeyondth)
Fine for primary school. But it's not real literature.

Please, tell me how your opinion is more valid than that of the 60 PhD holders who took part in this http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/Title,85899,en.html

[Dobrzynski]

Please, no. I liked Harry Potter before I saw some real literature.

Stick to Shakespeare

[Architecture-er]

Harry Potter may be more fun to read, but when it comes to intellectually written prose, it's somewhat lacking.

Good for anyone under year 9 I reckon, because it'd teach a lot about creative writing that the boring crap doesn't. But tbh just read fiction outside of school, it boosts your vocabulary head and shoulders above your peers

[iamyourspiritfrombeyondth]

(Original post by Bella_trixxx)
Please, tell me how your opinion is more valid than that of the 60 PhD holders who took part in this http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/Title,85899,en.html

I didn't say it couldn't be analysed or studied. It is a cultural phenomenon and for that reason alone deserves to be looked at academically. But I am dubious of the merits of teaching Harry Potter in the classroom beyond a certain age, for the simple fact that it is aimed at children. I concede that whether it's 'real literature' or not is ultimately a subjective viewpoint (your username indicates that you may not be completely free of bias here yourself) and my opinion is no more valid than that of anyone else. On the other hand, I'm sure I could find 60 academics who disagree with those 60 PHD holders.

[Bella_trixxx]

(Original post by iamyourspiritfrombeyondth)
I didn't say it couldn't be analysed or studied. It is a cultural phenomenon and for that reason alone deserves to be looked at academically. But I am dubious of the merits of teaching Harry Potter in the classroom beyond a certain age, for the simple fact that it is aimed at children. I concede that whether it's 'real literature' or not is ultimately a subjective viewpoint (your username indicates that you may not be completely free of bias here yourself) and my opinion is no more valid than that of anyone else. On the other hand, I'm sure I could find 60 academics who disagree with those 60 PHD holders.

Of course I'm not saying my opinion is more valid than yours, but just because a piece of fiction is aimed at children doesn't mean it can't be analysed in just the same way as a more traditional piece of literature. I'm in the fourth year of my degree and still analysing fairytales, and there are indeed whole modules on children's literature at a number of universities. Just because it's aimed at children doesn't mean it can't be taken seriously.

ETA: For the record, I wouldn't have Harry Potter taught in classes either. To my mind, the point of English Literature at school is to introduce children to as broad a range of literature as possible, and Harry Potter is going to be something they will likely read outside of class anyway. But as you say, whether it is "real literature" or not is entirely subjective, it is taken seriously by a number of academics, and I see absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be studied purely because it's a work of children's fiction.

[Scienceisgood]

I'm not saying I know a lot about English literature (other than what I read) but I thought the entire point of literature was to make characters come to life and how the author delivers them to make them seem as real as possible.

Is this not accurate?

[11flon]

(Original post by EarthGirl)
Ooh, that's an interesting question!I wonder if some schools already study Harry Potter in lessons?I vaguely remember hearing some schools were studying Twilight...that would be awful.

Being a Potterhead, in some ways I'd love to look really deeply into one of my favourite book series, but I don't know if I'd find it weird reading it with other people who don't like/understand HP how I do :P

I think results would be generally positive in schools since most people have at least watched the films.Yet like with any book you read at school they'll be some who hate it.

Our school read Harry Potter once I'm assuming it was in year 7-8 just to get kids into reading or whatever. We had to read aloud a few pages each, havng already read them by that point all I remember was how painful it was listening to kids who werent strong readers stuttering through and effectively killing the best bits xD

[cardine92]

In years 3 and 4 our teacher read us Harry Potter at the end of every day and we loved it, especially when the teacher would explain some of the stuff behind it so it would be interesting to see how it could be used for primary school kids. When I think back, English in primary school was boring. I remember being forced to read a lot but never being asked my opinion about a book, surely what you learn from a book is just as important as it being a literacy exercise. Besides, some of the books I was made to read in secondary school were awful, Face and Skellig anyone? Good job I was a keen reader otherwise I don't think I would have bothered.

[BefuddledPenguin]

I'm all for it really, it's a good place to start in my opinion.

[Kater Murr]

Depends where and when; it's a good book to read either before high school age (i.e. 11/12) or for only the weaker pupils in the first couple of years or high school. This is probably only necessary in schools like mine, though, where it's pretty difficult to find pupils who read outside of school at all, and have no interest in reading anything much; grammars etc. should leave off.

[Ra Ra Ra]

(Original post by Dobrzynski)
Please, no. I liked Harry Potter before I saw some real literature.

Stick to Shakespeare

Agreed. Call me a snob (I always get called a snob when I say I don't like Harry Potter) but I found that the more 'classic' books I read, the more I disliked the series. The writing's not great, for a start, and I really don't know what students can analyse from it. The prose? The symbolism?* I don't think the argument against teaching it is down to it being a children's book - I mean, To Kill A Mockingbird is still being taught, and many people class that as a kid's book - but rather due to the fact that - in my opinion - there's really not much to be taught from Harry Potter, mythology and pseudo-Latin aside. They're fun to read, I'll give them that, but I don't feel that they're these literary masterpieces that should be studied in lieu of 'boring' books.

*That said, I never analysed the prose or symbolism in books we studied at primary school. I'm just saying, though, my point is that I can't see how giving the series to GCSE or A Level students because it's not as boring as Gatsby or Shakespeare would get anyone anywhere. Lots of people just don't like reading

[mrs_bellamy]

I think studying Harry Potter in school English would be great. I think at any stage from primary school to year 8 it would be a great way of making people interested in English literature. It might then encourage people to give some of the more classic books on the GCSE syllabus a try. I think it has a place, but it is important not to exclude other classics and replace those with only hugely popular books like HP and twilight. Studying one book like that, and perhaps discussing what students think makes them so popular, could be really interesting. However students also need variety. Don't exclude Shakespeare/Dickens/Austen/whoever and replace it all with modern books. Try to use the more modern books to encourage reading, and get people interested in the subject. English lessons for me were extremely dry and boring. I would generally consider myself to be a good student, and was usually interested in what we were doing, but I never enjoyed English. Since I have left school I have read a huge amount and grown to really love literature, but didn't discover this in all those hours spent in school English. I think that is a shame, and is the case for many other students. English lessons often fail to inspire students who might enjoy reading to try it, and if reading Harry Potter could change that for some students I think it is an excellent idea.

[hothedgehog]

Good for maybe year 7 to get into the swing of analysing literature on something easy to read which they probably know. When we were in year 7 we were made to read Shakespeare and I didn't understand the language so analysing it was a lost cause! English was never my favourite subject. Jane Austen... oh dear.