From: BRIAN PODOLSKI <jfpodolski>
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 14:00:04 -0500

SPOILER ALERT



Megan,

I immediately thought about the connection to the real world educational system. I'm not sure what's going on in England, but I think it may be similar (or worse) to the testing craze here in the U.S. I see Umbridge as the ultimate advocate of traditional educational theory in which students are viewed as blank slates to be filled with theory. The practice should follow naturally if the theory is solid. Fudge is sort of like a bumbling politician since his moves in the educational realm are more influenced by his desire to control Dumbledore than to improve education. Where, through, does Dumbledore stand? I don't want to say that he is the exact opposite of Umbridge, positioning him as the representative of extreme progressivism because Hogwarts (with the exception of Defense Against the Dark Arts) doesn't completely abandon theoretical knowledge, even though it does focus heavily on the practical.

Jackie
  
  
----- Original Message ----From: Megan Schliesman Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 8:44 AM To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [ccbc-net] Character Growth/Political Commentary
   I'm thinking about Robin's comment on lack of character growth and have to disagree, at least somewhat. I do agree with her that the three main characters do not change significantly--it's more that they gain new expereriences, but these do foster some growth. I do think Hermione is continuing to break away from being so rulebound, and Ron is beginning to gain more confidence. I greatly appreciated Harry's adolescent angst--not exactly "growth," but I thought Rowling did a terrific job making readers think twice about his behavior at points when he is so frustrated and angry about his situation--to see it at first as understandable, and then as perhaps a bit self?ntered and overwrought. She does a good job of putting us inside Harry's head, and then doing a reality check by providing another character's perspective on his actions.

But one of the characters that I've come away from this book very interested in is Ginny Weasly. I think she didn't grow so much in the book as she did between books. Ginny has gained tremendous confidence--she has intelligence, nerve, and wit, as well as the ability to stand back and assess a situation. I look forward to see if her role continues to expand.

SPOILER ALERT: the following paragarph does not give away any specifics, but does comment on some of the broad situations in the book:


Moving on from characters to situations, as I reader I know I bring a lot to my interpretation of events in the story, but as I read I had to wonder if the political situation in Britain, as in America, has involved the government putting its nose in where it doesn't necessarily belong with regard to educational directives and trying to influence how things are taught in the classroom. I also found the relationship between the government and the media chillingly realisitic to our world, and had to laugh at the Ministry of Magic's directives to the wizarding households near the end of the story--I was almost expecting to see duct tape on the list.

Megan

Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu


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Received on Tue 24 Jun 2003 02:00:04 PM CDT