New Harry Potter Course at Uni: Have we gone mad?
Categories: Articles
Written By: Socialpaws
Has the world gone Potter-mad, or are we sliding into a new and harmless cultural revolution revolving around wizardry?
The Guardian reports that a Harry Potter course is to be offered at Durham University. The focus being on ‘social, cultural and educational context.’
Before you dash off to sign up, you may be disappointed to hear that there’ll be no flying lessons, frog legs or bat ears involved in this course. It has been designed to focus on some of the reasons why Rowling’s seven book masterpiece has become such a huge global phenomenon.
The Guardian post states:
“Harry Potter is a culturally iconic phenomenon and has already been the subject of many well-regarded academic studies over recent years, so it is only fitting that a leading university like Durham responds to new developments in our academic and wider social and cultural environment in developing new modules like this,” said Fowler.”
Sorry, but I cannot fully grasp the purpose of an entire university course, (of which we now learn there is more than one) based on understanding the popularity of a children’s book!
Will we see any opposing cultural/religious groups protesting at such nonsense?
And apparently, (brace yourself) this new course isn’t the only Potter-themed educational craze in existence either. The UK already runs an ‘International Quidditch Association’ where a few hundred colleges and schools are counted as its members.
But there’s no flying around in the Quidditch club either, just a little tearing around the playing field with a broomstick between your legs, which to me sounds a) dangerous b) painful c) utterly ridiculous!
But then again, is it anymore ridiculous than kicking a ball from one end of a field to another?
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:36 am
Perhaps I am one of the rare few, but I could not get into the HP series. There is no doubt that Rowling created a niche story and some fantastic writing, but to throw it into the higher educational realm really is a little worrying.
I would not be surprised if this course was invented to attract the least academic of our students in Britain. Having a degree in Harry Potter, must be after all better than having no degree at all? Having said that, I;d be interested in viewing the curriculum/ module itself to see its benefit.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:25 am
According to the BBC news website; “The Durham University module uses the works of JK Rowling to examine prejudice, citizenship and bullying in modern society.
So far about 80 undergraduates have signed up for the optional module, part of a BA degree in Education Studies.”
The important part of this article points out quite clearly that is is a degree in educational studies and one module refers to Harry Potter. It is quite wrong for the tabloids to give the impression that undergraduates will have a degree in Harry Potter, as this is simply inflammatory assertion.
Surely what can be wrong with undergraduates exploring ‘some fundamental issues, such as the moral universe of the school.’ Looking at bullying and prejudice in schools is a real and fundamental problem. Illustrating this with the use of books is no big deal, and I am sure that if Durham University chose Dickens or Shakespeare as the stimulus for undergraduate discussion we would not have such a big news story.
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I’m not sure what to make of this. Rowlings book is about wizards, kids and magic, how is this covering fundamental issues?
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:52 pm
@Lady May: shouldn’t undergraduates who are learning about education be interested in a book which is written for children, about children and focussed on the dynamics of children interacting within a school environment? It is only a book about wizards and magic on one level; it is also about other subjects such as power, rivalry, adolescence and moral choices; all things relevant in a normal childhood experience.
As a phenomenally successful series of books, the Harry Potter stories obviously resonate with millions of children worldwide. Shouldn’t future educationalists seek to understand why this is so, and be interested professionally in all the messages these stories contain?
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@Jo Jo, I think you’ve said it best, despite how the tabloids are portraying it.
Though I can see some undergrad tweeting their friends, “zOMG! Class in Harry Potter=Teh Awesome! I am so signing up right now!!!!!”
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:10 pm
re above comment, that is why I reserve my judgement on this mostly. I have not seen the module, but my guess is that the most seriously academic wouldn’t opt for a study into HP.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:21 pm
@the English Oak, on the contrary I would think that it would be very beneficial for serious academics – who after all are studying education as their overall degree- to look at why HP was such a phenomenal success. On the one hand we blast children for being illiterate and unwilling to read books, and on the other we are unwilling to try and ascertain what turned HP into such a success. Surely if the next generation of educationalists can understand the success of HP then we are more likely to encourage school age children to read books?
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
@Rich, please don’t tell me that it has got to that stage when undergraduates are now saying ” Awesome! I am so signing up right now!!!!!” Has American speech pattern infiltrated the higher echelons of the most educated at University? No, I don’t believe it. You’ll tell me next that they don’t wear gowns and mortar boards; I won’t hear of it;) that is more concerning than HP being on the syllabus.
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Tis is a puzzlement. On the one hand, anything that seems to capture the imagination of so many ages/genders/nationalities must tap into some Jungian archetypes that make it worthy of studying.
On the other hand, it’s a short step from a Harry Potter course to a Twilight course…at which point I’ll be moving off the planet.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
@JoJo…. HP is a success due to its originality, branding, inventiveness, major marketing and a heap of other good luck combinations that Rowling crashed into with huge fortitude. I understand your observations on its elements pertaining to adolescent issues. Because it is a wholly fictional tale, I can’t quite see how it fits into reality any more than Grange Hill used to, (a similar 70′s British ‘student-based’ series) that became very popular without all the additional pomp and disney-related theme.
August 23rd, 2010 at 9:46 pm
@socialpaws
Firstly Grange Hill isn’t literature and the fact that you had to explain what it was shows how it is miles away from being a world wide phenomena.
Secondly, if you are concerned that fictitious material isn’t worthy of study then I guess we must now close all English Literature degree courses?
@Joshua RR, I’ll join you if they study twilight, simply because it was pap;)
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:29 pm
@Jo Jo – Now that you mention it, I am not all that sure that English Literature is the big mover and shaker any longer these days. How many young kids have even heard of Moby Dick? But then again, you’d be a better judge of that. It doesn’t come in an XBox so do kids still read literature? On the subject of Twilight, well why not? May as well throw in the study of vampires and their sudden increase in teenage popularity.
August 24th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Every one is entitled to their own opinion here. Mine, is that I see Harry Potter as a great piece of writing that is written for ‘entertainment’ purposes. Entertainment – something which a lot of people seem to be afraid of.
Sorry but I don’t consider Rowlings book as literature, but maybe that is because I am old. But if it does comes under the bracket of ‘literature’ then why notjust take all the popular books and films etc, and turn them into serious academic media studies?
August 25th, 2010 at 1:11 am
@ J E Bains God forbid that serious literature also be entertaining – I would hate to have to replace my po-faced demeanour and break into a smile of enjoyment while I read. If ever I found myself enjoying Dickens, laughing at a Shakespearean comedy or chuckling at the bawdy works of Chaucer then please remind me that I’m demeaning the serious art of literature.
Mockery aside, the real point here is that the Harry Potter books are not being studied as part of a literature course but as a sociological tool for educationalists. So put your snobbery to one side – if the masses enjoy utter rubbish such as Big Brother, The X-Factor and Jerry Springer, then I can bemoan the fact all I like (and I do), but what such idiocy says about modern society is worth knowing in order to understand where it springs from. I want university students to be able to recognise and investigate the things which shape and form our society. Now where’s that application form…
August 25th, 2010 at 1:21 am
I’d like to assume that those who are making the decisions at university as to what is good for the undergraduates in their care do actually know what they are doing. I’d also like to ask J E Bains for your description of ‘literature’ as opposed to ‘popular books’? Not quite sure I understand where you draw the line?
I hated ‘Twilight’, I admit it, but it is still ‘literature’. What makes good or bad literature may be another discussion.