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Durham University has decided to examine prejudice and bullying, among others, by examining Rowling's books, for a part of the Educational Studies. They will be discussing a moral universe written in a (large) piece of fiction.

I have lost quite a bit of respect for the professors of Durham after this.

 

It's just an application of theory to a fictional world, and Harry Potter is as good a choice as any. Besides, the majority of students will have read it already, which will help a lot.

Just because it's popular doesn't mean it can't be relevant to academia. Twilight excluded.

 

While I'll admit to a bit of me that instinctively sighs at the article, basically what Aekiel said. I'm also wondering if anything has actually been done about it, since the article was published in August 2010.

 

A dozen articles have appeared like this over the past few years, with different institutions and slightly different courses.

The result? My first response was to sigh and think that I just don't care anymore. My second was to mentally bitchslap myself and say that I should care, because it's Harry Potter. Several sub-responses later I concluded that we should give up, travel back in time, and found the fuck out of Hogwarts already.

 

Well you could make an argument that Twilight can be used as an example of psychological issues.

Bella's odd dependance on having someone decide everything for her...

What Edward's behavior would be classified as if you took out the "vampire, blood blah blah" aspect.

Cause sometimes a cigar is just a cigar... but when is it not?

 

I'm thinking more along the lines about how paedophilia (that is, a relationship between a 300 year old vampire and a 16 year old girl) can be acceptable in a novel.

Well, yeah, psychological issues. Of the author.

 

Eh, vampiric relationships across age gaps aren't remotely new. Also, Edward is like 80 or so, not 300. It's been a while since I read the books, but I think the author made a point of allowing Bella to turn 18 before anything happened, which I think is silly. And "acceptable" in a novel? You have heard of Lolita, right? DLP's seen way worse than anything in the Twilight novels. Don't be so quick to jump on the bandwagon.

 

I like the books as much as anybody, but damn, just teach the class properly.

 

I had a class last semester that studied the languages in the Lord of the Rings. That was legit. Tolkien knew what he was doing.

 

I actually don't mind these sorts of classes, for the reasons Aekiel stated. Clearly they're trying to entice students with stuff everyone's likely to have read already, and as long as the students get something useful out of it, why does it matter that they're analyzing HP? A book doesn't need to be a classic to have themes worth discussing.

 

Harry Potter just seems a bit...simple, when it comes down to a lot of the character developments and the characters all seem somewhat shallow.

When you're trying to explore themes through fiction, you'd usually use literature that more accurately depicts the themes and their consequences.

It's like when our Reverend at our Anglican Private School tried to explore the themes of Christianity through watching the Matrix. Sure, it's good fun for us, but it's not really the best example to use in terms of studying it.

 

Idk... I'm torn. On the one hand you definitely should try to make the works more enticing to students on the other Harry Potter is relatively simple,as some have mentioned.It doesn't stand up to a quick examination in many areas let alone a whole class's worth of study. Especially in terms of morality.

On the topic of prejudice and bullying it is of course, much better, the themes are clearly there. It's just very... simplistic, to the level that university students really don't need to be dealing with it. The only "bully" that has any level of complexity is Voldemort every one else is basically a Nazi-stand-in who never justifies their beliefs. Does this matter in dealing with bullying? Maybe not. But I for one believe people should be exposed to more morally complex stuff (reflecting the real world) as they get older, not books with a black-and-white system meant for children.

Also, I hate this idea of simplifying everything. For tv-addict third-graders, sure give them something to entice them to read. But college students should have the maturity and will to sit down and read a dense work and analyse it and pick it apart and discuss it.

Also @Jarik: You watched the first Matrix to find Christian themes or the whole trilogy?

 

I'm fine with departments like Education and Sociology studying fictional works. However, where I draw the line is when departments like Politics provide classes based wholly based on the study of fictional works. My university department offers two modules (taught by the same guy) and taught in sequential semesters, both of which are based on the study of fictional works. One is dedicated to the works of George Orwell, and the other studies a variety of works including Animal Farm, Brave New World and The Island of Dr Moreau. Sure, the works of fiction they study cover political themes, however those themes could be examined without use of fiction in my opinion and I hate that they are trying to pass it off as a relevant politics module.

 

Just the first one. But our Reverend was very forgetful, so whenever we went to class he'd be like "Which part were we up to again?" and we'd consistently end up rewatching scenes throughout. Ended up lasting us like 4-5 weeks worth of classes (2 classes per week I think).

I think his attempt at linking the two was to argue that the analogy was Neo started off as a atheist, and then Morpheus converted him to a Christian. What with Morpheus continuously trying to tell him to "Free your mind" (have faith) and all. Leaving the Matrix and going to the real world was an analogy to seeing the world differently and for what it is - fake in comparison to what God has to offer and all. And then he became Jesus and came back to life. Or something.

It's been 7-8 years since I studied it so you'll have to forgive my lack of memory. =P

 

If you had said that the Professor in question based a political theory class around irrelevant books like 'Great Expectations', I would have more sympathy with you. That the course appears to be focusing on George Orwell and H. G. Wells doesn't seem complaint-worthy unless the Professor is incompetent.

After all, H. G. Wells pretty much predicted nuclear weapons, the Cold War and the findings of Herman Kahn's 'On Thermonuclear War' way back in 1914 in 'The World Set Free'. Keep in mind that the man wrote this at a time when nuclear physics was still in its infancy and most people still thought that controlled fission was a pipe dream, let alone nuclear holocaust.


College seminars based around Harry Potter, though? I weep for humanity. If you want to pay good money to take a class on how most of the characters have some sort of psychological issue, be my guest, but don't come crying to me later and ask why STEM majors have higher employment prospects.

 

My problem is that there are much better ways to teach the same topics covered by these novels, without using fiction to do it. The way in which he is going about the class is more like a literature class, than a politics class. That is why I have a problem with it. Politics should be taught from real world sources, not from fiction.

I have just as many problems with a professor using Orwell to study socialism and authoritarianism, as I would with a professor using the Harry Potter series to study civil rights. There are better ways to do it.

 

I disagree with you that Orwell is not relevant to study, and his works practically constitute a class in themselves as a sub-study of Politics. I mean, he was the one to basically speak what a lot of other people were thinking about Stalin's regime, to the point where either 1984 or Animal Farm (can't recall which) was banned from being printed until the end of WWII.

 

I disagree that fictional sources have no value in political theory. Given that a course on political 'theory' is a course in the hypothetical, there's no reason to say that a fictional source shouldn't be used to typify the 'perfect' case study. Animal Farm does this for communist authoritarianism, because it includes every aspect of the theoretical ideal, followed by the systematic corruption of the system in a way that you don't see in real world examples.

EDIT: That said, I still don't understand the value of Harry Potter as an academic text, so I can agree with you on that point.

 

Well I hope they don't start making them watch/read Twilight...then they might start thinking mythical vampires sparkle in the sun. :facepalm

 

And by way of comparison, in Nebraska...

A Muggle's Guide to Harry Potter's Chemistry

This one actually does make me :facepalm