No way. Horrible idea. JK Rowling has a fantastic imagination, but she’s not a great author. A-level kids studying her will only have their literature skills suffer. Makes me glad I’ve chosen the IB. Seriously, Harry Potter is enjoyable, but I would hate to study it. Give me Harper Lee or May Gibbs any day.
Lol, thanks for the Wiki link xD had no idea what an A Level was
I think this is a fantastic idea. I have always believed that the so-called “literary canon” needs to be updated to contain todays classics. Who decided that something like Hamlet is so much better than a series like Harry Potter? The old great works are included on the list, ensuring their survival through the ages, yes. But newsflash, those authors are all dead. If the canon does not start including modern great works they will be the ones to disappear in time, and the loss of a work like Harry Potter, that have gotten SO many children interested in reading for the first time, would truly be tragic.
Congrats to the AQA for realizing that, like all things, the appreciation of literature must change, update, and improve over time.
Harry Potter IS great literature. Its not just to keep ppl busy or entertaining. I wish we took test on HP in my school
Oh man, that’s awesome! I wish I lived in the UK! We could all own that test. If only the SAT was based on HP..
I love Harry Potter and do regard it as a great work, but considering I read the first book as a third grader, it’s a little strange that they would make high school students study it.
YOU ARE KIDDING ME!!
I’m just coming to the end of that A Level! We got to choose the books for our coursework for the second year but I was told Harry Potter wasn’t deemed suitable! What a joke! Might fail on purpose so I can retake with that coursework!
Having said that it did lead me to reading A Clockwork Orange which I though was class.
Still, Seems like a good idea to me, though maybe Deathly Hallows is more appropriate- possibly comparing with another novel on the representation of death? Maybe that’s asking too much!
awesome, they finally did this. one question though don’t they need Jo’s approval?
man—that makes me actually want to take a test!!! awesome!! maybe soon it’ll become part of my schools required reading! vive xe
I don’t know about this. I love Harry Potter but it honestly hasn’t been around long enough to be considered a literary classic…yet. I definitely think that students should be allowed to write about it. The book has had a huge impact on pop culture and it would also be in an interesting study into the models of classic mythology and the idea of the hero and death…but I just don’t think that it should be REQUIRED reading, especially the first book which is definitely not as literarily advanced as the the others.
I wish it were a part of my Interpretation of Fiction course. That would be sweeeeeet. And to the people who are like, “JK Rowling isn’t a good author” wtf are you doing on this website? lol
I think that Harry Potter is marvellous in introducing young kids to reading, but there is a point where you have to move beyond Harry Potter. Sure it’s fun, but it doesn’t challange your thinking at all. However, from what I see, it’s just the first book that they’re including – which should be fine as long it hasn’t replaced something better like Great Expectations or Nineteen Eighty-Four. It would be rather interesting to study the Harry Potter phenomena and get students to think about why it’s so popular, but the UK education system should be extremely careful in how far they push with it. To me, writing a tiny 800 word story ‘inspired by the book’ would be a waste of everybody’s time at this level of schooling. But if the students are made to think analytically and critically about it, this might not turn out to be the worst idea proposed in the history of the 21st century.
:O
Why couldn’t they have this when I was doing MY A levels?
Then I would have actually taken English :D