Harry Potter Movie: a metaphor for current education policy?

July17

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix metaphor for our current school system? YOU decide after looking at the words of the character Dolores Umbridge:

…from now on you will be following a carefully structured Ministry approved course of defensive magic…

…you will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way…

That remind anyone of Reading First? Check out this next exchange…

Umbridge: It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all is what school is all about.

Harry: How is theory supposed to prepare us for what’s out there?

Umbridge: There is nothing out there dear.

DH, guffawed, and “punched” me in the arm after that one. The connection to the ludicrous nature of an exam-centric curriculum is pretty obvious.

So are we preparing our students for tests, with a risk-free curriculum, approved by a bureaucracy because that’s more important than preparing them for what’s really out there? You make the call, I know what I’m thinking.

I could go on. Cliotech has a lovely discussion about this subject that I highly recommend.

7 Comments to

“Harry Potter Movie: a metaphor for current education policy?”

  1. July 19th, 2007 at 6:16 pm      Reply Ms. Whatsit Says:

    The same thoughts crossed my mind too as I watched the movie. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more chatter in the edublogosphere on that one.

    Perhaps it’s really just too obvious.


  2. July 20th, 2007 at 10:38 am      Reply alicemercer Says:

    Hey, discussion at Classroom 2.0 ning on this: http://classroom20.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A33607&page=1&commentId=649749%3AComment%3A34682#649749Comment34682


  3. July 20th, 2007 at 12:04 pm      Reply Ms. Whatsit Says:

    Thanks!


  4. August 1st, 2007 at 1:25 am      Reply kwhobbes Says:

    I wonder how many teachers are actually HP fans? Do they read what their students are reading? Will they also see the connections or will they just pass them by? Is HP more a metaphor for the divide between our youth and the adult world? Could it be said that HP is battling against He-Who-Can’t-Be-Named as many of our youth seem to be doing as they search for a connection between themselves and the society in which they live? I mean, many people look at youth and their use of technology in much the same manner as the populace looks at HP and his scar. Those that really know him see he is more than the scar. Just a bit to ponder!


  5. August 1st, 2007 at 10:39 am      Reply alicemercer Says:

    That, as they say, is another perspective to look at it from, and I think one with merit. I think it’s difficult to sum up the under 18 audience of HP. Many started reading him when they were younger, and stuck with it. When I was in Oregon, my cousin (college age) devoured the book in about 24 hours. But, one of my first Skype experiences was with a group of Harry Potter fans in a Skypecast. A high school (9th grade) girl complained that her contemporaries looked down on HP as children’s lit. They were in high school and now thought it babyish. For her the book solidified her feeling of difference from her peers. The books started out as children’s stories, and do have under 12 readers, but they are more at a middle-school lexile level (the the conflicts are too). It’s amazing to me that it has the audience it does.
    For those teachers who do not read the trade books that their students do, I can only shake my head! There is good stuff. My neighbor (not a teacher) read HP #7 for the sheer pleasure of it. I don’t read everything (didn’t read “Series of Unfortunate Events”), but I definitely like to keep my oar in it.


  6. August 3rd, 2007 at 2:12 am      Reply kwhobbes Says:

    Most definitely. I try to read some of the many books that are popular. I also try to read what myt own kids are reading so that, if there is nothing else, we can talk about books. I didn’t read SoUE but have read Eargon and most of Judy B. Jones. I’m now reading Spiderman and Caillou as my sons get into books.
    I, too, cannot understand those who don’t have the slightest idea about what the students are reading – even the magazines. On b’ball trips, I use to get the lates issue of Cosmo read to me. What discussions we had! I read a great deal for myself but, when given the chance, I’ll sit back with a book my daughter’s have suggested. The Sisterhood of the traveling pants was another I’ve read just to have a discussion topic with my girls. What a dad won’t do!


  7. August 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 am      Reply Ms. Whatsit Says:

    Ms. Mercer — I am 100% with you on the feeling about teachers who fail to immerse themselves in the books that kids read and enjoy. I teach in a middle school and I truly enjoy adolescent lit. Some of my best teaching moments have come from shared reading conversations with kids.

    And I call them teaching moments, not because we talk about literary stucture, grammar, etc.; but because what we say to each other is real and purposeful. We make connections in many ways, and I am well-equipped to make future recommendations. They are good teaching moments, because they encourage life-long reading/learning skills.

    Well, this is well off the beaten path of your original post. I think that many younger kids do enjoy reading about kids who find a way to overcome an evil force (something I realized while reading Goosebumps — don’t laugh, but if you notice that a clear antagonist is introduced by page 3 in each of these books). That Harry and his friends have magic to thrwart the evil adults (Dursleys, Flitch, Umbridge, Snape) is fun and in some ways a reflection of what they might like to accomplish in their own lives.


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