BusyTarpDuster2017 said:
ursamajor said:
BusyTarpDuster2017 said:
ursamajor said:
As Osodecentx says, a liberal arts education alone justifies engaging with any piece of literature. I don't understand the idea of mocking a class you haven't taken.
And what of the fact that JK Rowling is one of the wealthiest people in Britain? Would you mock a class studying Sam Walton's entrepreneurial techniques or Warren Buffet's investment strategies or Steve Jobs' marketing?
Then how about secondary education majors? Should they not have the opportunity to study critically the most significant piece of youth literature in half a century before going to teach 12-18 year olds?
That doesn't even take into consideration that HP has many explicit Christian themes. It even culminates in a death/resurrection/sacrifice scene set at King's Cross. Not overly subtle.
Then what about the idea Garrett specifically addresses on twitter?: the ethical quandaries involved in the separation of the product from the producer, especially in a politically charged environment.
Lots of educational fodder there. Certainly not an embarrassment.
The salient difference is that it would be highly doubtful that books about Sam Walton's entrepreneurial techniques, Warren Buffet's investment strategies, or Steve Jobs' marketing would be read by 5th graders.
I don't think I can name a single college course where the entire course text(s) had already been read by the students back when they were in elementary school.
I'm not really sure that makes a difference. I'd read much of the Bible and certainly knew most of the stories by the time I was in 5th grade. I also think many 5th graders could grasp the basics of marketing and investing if they had any interest in them.
But that's also not really my point. There are many ways to view literature. I was simply naming some of those ways: as a good used for profit, as a tool for studying the sociology of teenagers, as a quasi-Christian narrative, as a focal point in the question of how to separate the art from the artist. Those are all real and relevant parts of life.
No one's suggesting majoring in Harry Potter, but one (optional) course? Why not?
The comparison with the Bible is patently absurd. There's quite a bit of a difference between:
- an anthology of books written by about 40 divinely inspired authors over a 1,500 year period that details Hebrew history and the history of the Jewish religion as well as the rise of early Christianity, and which contains densely rich and beautifully poetic and symbolic language that is didactic, philosophical, and prophetic in nature, and which has been exquisitely preserved for millennia through countless number of copies and language translations, and which has been the sole source of inspiration and authority for at least three of the world's major religions, and over which entire conflicts and wars have been fought over throughout history, and about which entire schools, academic disciplines, and vocations have been built around, and for which countless martyrs have literally given their lives......
- .....and a series of fictional books aimed at children, written by a modern day feminist for immense profit.
And let's be honest - you didn't read the bible by the 5th grade. Even if you did, I highly doubt you really understood what you were reading. The bible wasn't written for 5th graders. It's too difficult even for many educated adults to read and understand fully. I suppose if you happen to be the one in 10 million children who is precocious enough to engage in readings of the bible or entrepreneurial, marketing, or financial strategies and truly understand them, still, this doesn't mean that a college course should be built around what is aimed at average, everyday children like the Harry Potter books.
Your points about how such literature can be utilized to derive college-level subject matter is valid, but it'd be better as part of a broader survey course involving a meta analysis of different literature instead of as a standalone focusing on one book. For example, "Children's Literature and the Sociology of Teenagers" or "Religious themes in Children/Adolescent Literature". Or, alternatively, a course on the author herself (Rowling), much like courses on Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Except there, I'd argue that Rowling isn't anywhere near the status of those two so it'd be unjustifiable, but I guess that's a different argument.
I think you probably got my point about the Bible: just because you read something when you were younger doesn't mean you got everything you could out of it.
Your point seems to be that everything there is to get out of HP you could get out of it in 5th grade. Or that it is only for "average, everyday" fifth graders.
But that's clearly not true. It's not written at a fifth grade level, it spans several thousand pages with intricate plot and character development, and it touches thoughtfully on major literary themes. Why not couple that with all the topics I named in my last post in a single course (instead of splitting them up into topical courses)? Plus, in a TikTok world, throw in a week studying how this one book series did what no other series has done: it became a massive cultural phenomenon for young people, centered on reading. Heck, I feel like we're halfway there to a syllabus already.
Making Money with Literature
Rowling vs Lewis/Tolkein
A Cultural Phenomenon of Reading
Sociology of Teenagers in Literature
Christian Themes in HP
The Product vs the Producer of an Item or Artwork
Children's Literature vs Adult Literary Fiction: Where to Draw the Line?