Liwei Zhou // GAZETTE
Accio literature!
That’s right, starting next year, Harry Potter will be a semester-long essay course offered through the English department. But will this kind of course have academic merit at Western?
This is undoubtedly a tough question to answer. After all, Harry Potter was initially written for children, so how can a mature, university crowd be challenged to find hidden meaning in J.K. Rowling’s seven-book wizarding saga?
This isn’t the first course in the English department that strays away from the classics. There are half-courses on fantasy literature, sport in literature and children’s literature. So is creating a Harry Potter course problematic?
Now, on the one hand, bringing in this course can be looked at as a joke that can potentially be a mockery of university and academics. If you are studying English, you are there to study the classics. Some may say authors such as Shakespeare, Hemingway and Joyce provide the reader with a much deeper, denser text that actually involves and requires the aid of a professor to find the deeper meaning, while Harry Potter’s journey through Hogwarts is just too simplistic. This is a slippery slope and if this can be a course for academic credit, then where do we draw the line?
But who’s to say there is not deeper meaning in Harry Potter as well? Although it was originally written for children, the later books were written when many of us were in our late teens, and the themes certainly reflect this. With adult themes such as challenging authority, self-sacrifice, tolerance and genocide, these books following the boy who lived should not be pushed aside as “just for children.” After all, the whole point of the English program is to develop your critical thinking skills and find the meaning in certain texts, so if the Harry Potter series accomplishes this, then clearly it has academic merit.
Additionally, English literature is always evolving, and what we study in English classes should evolve as well.
Regardless of its merit and its credit count, this course is sure to attract Potter fanatics, English majors and all of those hoping for a bird course alike.
— The Gazette Editorial Board
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It should come as no surprise that, as a student newspaper, most of our editors are either enrolled in Western’s English program, or graduates of the program.
The structure of our Editorial Board discussion is to discuss the topic of the day and look at both sides of the issue, which on Wednesday, happened to be the new Harry Potter course.
Contradictory to what one letter-writer stated, the purpose of these discussions is not to “highlight the opinions of a mass body of students,” but rather to summarize the opinions of the 24 individuals who make up our Editorial Board.
It seems, however, that many readers had trouble getting past the headline, which posed the question whether or not a new Harry Potter course would be a “bird course.”
It cannot be denied that, to the average citizen, a course on Harry Potter with no further explanation will sound easier than a course titled Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy. The first part of our Editorial Board discussion sought to discuss the stereotypical assumptions university outsiders may have when hearing a Harry Potter course was in the works at Western.
“Some may say authors such as Shakespeare, Hemingway and Joyce provide the reader with a much deeper, denser text that actually involves and requires the aid of a professor to find the deeper meaning, while Harry Potter’s journey through Hogwarts is just too simplistic.”
However, the Editorial Board went against such assumptions, arguing that:
“Who’s to say there is not deeper meaning in Harry Potter as well? Although it was originally written for children, the later books were written when many of us were in our late teens, and the themes certainly reflect this. With adult themes such as challenging authority, self-sacrifice, tolerance and genocide, these books following the Boy who Lived should not be pushed aside as “just for children.” After all, the point of the English program is to develop your critical thinking skills and find the meaning in certain texts, so if the Harry Potter series accomplishes this, then clearly it has academic merit.
Additionally, English literature is always evolving, and what we study in English classes should evolve as well.”
Will the new Harry Potter course be a bird course? No. I believe our Editorial Board answered this question and provided evidence as to its academic merit. Will this course, at first glance, look like a bird course to university outsiders? Given reaction on other social media sites, it is fair to say that yes, many people may come to that conclusion. And indeed, some students may enroll in the course hoping it will be easy, as our concluding statement puts forward.
Unlike such outsiders, however, The Gazette does not hold the opinion this will be a bird course, and I believe we adequately answered the question posed in the headline.
Whoever is responsible for this piece either a) hasn’t read Harry Potter, b) hasn’t read any of the Classics, c) entirely lacks appropriate reading comprehension skills any University student should be required to have, d) is not an English major, or e) all of the above.
It’s one thing to not like a series and provide examples of why you don’t. It’s entirely another to make unsupported claims about the merits of a series and whether anything useful could actually be derived from a course related to it. I don’t like The Hobbit; I’m not a particularly big fan of The Lord of the Rings. However, if a professor were to create an entire course devoted to it (and I have no doubt that there are many universities which have), I wouldn’t write a lacklustre piece about why it has no merit just because I don’t find the series particularly interesting. Anyone who attempted to claim that the LoTR series does not have “academic merit” or deeper, more profound meaning, however, would have to be a complete dunderhead.
Further, this is probably the first time I’ve ever heard anyone make a claim that a class will be a “bird course” when it hasn’t been offered at the university before. I challenge whoever wrote this piece to actually take the course and see how much of a “bird course” it really is. I daresay they will find themselves unpleasantly surprised when their poor reading comprehension and writing skills leave them floundering somewhere around a ‘C’ in this essay course.
The point that is being made in this article is unclear. Are you saying that even though the course will be “easy” it will still be rewarding?
Are you discrediting Harry Potter as a book that could potentially have a profound impact on people?
Harry Potter is a series of books that have inspired a generation. I can honestly say that I would not be the person (or the student) that I am today had my fourth grade teacher not read me The Philosopher’s Stone.
You state this following:
“…while Harry Potter’s journey through Hogwarts is just too simplistic. This is a slippery slope and if this can be a course for academic credit, then where do we draw the line?”
First off, the storyline of the Harry Potter might be written in modern English but it is far from simplistic. Second of all it is a fact that the line has been crossed long before this course was created. I can name several courses that contain much less credible content than this course which, as you state in your own confusing commentary, will discuss “adult themes such as challenging authority, self-sacrifice, tolerance and genocide”.
I do not think there is anything easy about these topics and clearly the professor who created this course does not either.
Interestingly you said it best yourself, “these books following the boy who lived should not be pushed aside as ‘just for children’”. I think a deeper look into other courses offered at Western would help you to see that this is far from rock bottom in terms of academia.
You should probably read this:
http://mail.scu.edu.tw/~jmklassen/scu99b/chlitgrad/3ways.pdf
It strikes me as extremely odd that someone who so clearly is not in English should write an article on it and pretend to have a valid opinion of it. On the one hand they talk about classic literture (as if they even knew any), and on the other they condemn all other forms of literature.
As an English student, which in itself the author seems to try to criticize, I understand the fact that LITERATURE HAS CHANGED. And that to study only classics would be the only real condemnation of civilization.
I can understand that people not studting English could be confused as to what value fantasy, Harry Potter, or sports in literature contain, but to them all I can say is “how can you judge a book by it’s cover?” If you will not take the course to learn what it has to offer, then you have no right denouncing those who would or criticizing the courses (which by your refusal to take it I can only assume you are too scared to learn something new).
Furthermore, the English Department Professors are, contrary to the author’s belief, intelligent individuals who give nothing less than 100% in everything they teach. I have found it hard to find any teachers more willing to teach or more enthusiastic in what they do teach than the English Professors. They deserve more credit than this article gives them, and a hell of a lot more respect.
And lastly, to the author of this article, I want to challenge you to ACTUALLY TAKE an English course, preferably one that isn’t “classical literature” as you already seem to know very so much about that topic. If you do not learn one single new bit of knowledge about contemporary literature (yes, there is such a thing), then I will admit defeat. But until you take the class, you will never know the abundance of knowledge that escapes even your oh-so-educated mind.
Personally, I am very excited for the Harry Potter course to come to Western. Not only is it the epitome of pure awesome, but rumour has it that it’ll also be taught by my favourite professor here at Western.
First and foremost, I don’t think this could ever be seen as a mockery. I posted to Facebook my excitement to take this course and within 15 minutes my status had 23 likes. My tweet with the same message was also picked up and published by the London Free Press. I believe firmly that this will be an instance of “Oh man, I wish I had gone to Western” and not any sort of negative attention being brought upon the school.
Your argument that Hemingway, Shakespeare and Joyce provide the reader with deeper and denser texts is also invalid. Children’s Literature is still literature and I was more than challenged when I took English 2033 last year. Coming from Stratford, I have a deep appreciation for the fact that Shakespeare’s works are undoubtedly classical literature, but who is to say that in four hundred years time, the “hidden meanings” in J.K. Rowling’s books will not be just as significant? In fact, there are entire books already in existence explaining her reasoning behind choosing her character names, locations, and other historical context, etc.
Lastly, Harry Potter is also the book of our current university crowd’s childhood. If anyone is going to be more interested or amazed by the content of this course, it’ll be us. Bird course? No. Maybe O.W.L. course… not quite as difficult as the N.E.W.T.s but still carries academic merit.