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Original poster

To be surprised DSs teacher claims Harry Potter are her favourite books?

207 replies

bluegreenruby · 09/11/2018 21:57

She teaches English and I would surely have expected a little more sophistication from someone with an English degree?

OP posts:
duckling84 · 09/11/2018 22:25

Who said she has an English degree, just because she's an English teacher?
I'm in the maths department, very very few maths teachers have maths degrees (One is a sociology graduate).
Btw, I love harry potter. Definitely one of my all time favourites

thecatsthecats · 09/11/2018 22:25

The LittleMix example doesn't stand up. They have excellent vocals and regardless of WHO writes theirs songs, they're carefully written and produced to be high quality in their own category - catchy, playful pop. An awful lot of people who work on their music will have, you know, music degrees?

In a history seminar, we all got asked our favourite historical work. There were a lot of hifalutin answers, but I couldn't come up with one fancy enough on the spot, so I told the truth - I wouldn't be there without Horrible Histories.

HarrietSchulenberg · 09/11/2018 22:25

Of FFS, she either genuinely loves HP or she's telling the kids she does so that they can relate to her. She'd be an utter twat if she declared her love of obscure German litetature to 30 bored Y7s. She'll break that to them as a treat in Y11.

Sethis · 09/11/2018 22:26

I'm 31 and the teacher is quite possibly my generation or later. They're basically the most influential books of my lifetime in terms of popular culture, along with Marvel and Big Bang Theory making geekdom actually popular and trendy.

Even though I'm now an adult, I'll still tell anyone who'll listen the stories of my childhood I had growing up.

MissMarplesKnitting · 09/11/2018 22:27

My college mate at our posh uni wrote a (Classics) essay on Monty Python's life of Brian
She got a first.

BookWitch · 09/11/2018 22:28

Get over yourself.
I am an English teacher and have a literature degree.

I enjoy Austen, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Orwell, etc.

I also enjoy Harry Potter.

And the Gruffalo.

If I had to choose just one, I would choose Harry Potter.

Isn't it great that we are all free to read what we like (and claim our favourites)

Scubalubs87 · 09/11/2018 22:28

Literary snobbery. I’m 31 and grew up with Harry Potter. I devoured them, multiple times over and queued at midnight when a new book was released. The series hold a very special place in heart as I’m sure they do for plenty of other people my age - they certainly do for many of my friends. They might not be the most highbrow works I’ve ever read but they helped instil in me a lifelong love of reading and I will forever be fond of them for that and the way the made me feel. Would I wouldn’t have done to recieve one of those bloody letters! A parent once knitted me Gryffindor socks at the end of the year - best present ever! Yes, I’m a teacher and, if any child ever asks, Harry Potter is my favourite!

peachgreen · 09/11/2018 22:30

it's like someone with a degree in Music saying their favourite music is Little Mix!

Nothing wrong with that either. Can't stand culture snobbery.

OhComeOnRon · 09/11/2018 22:31

I'm early 30s and also grew up with the Harry Potter books (and queued outside asda at midnight to get the latest one!)

I would say I was intelligent and I LOVE reading all sorts of different books, but they are probably my favourite.

Stop being such a snob!

xsquared · 09/11/2018 22:31

My colleague, who has an English degree and teaches English, is a Potterhead and knows the most obscure details about Harry Potter.
She did her end of year essay on vampires in fiction. Guess which books her essay based on - no, it wasn't any from the Gothic fiction genre.

Anyway, I don't see your point. They're entertaining books and appeal to everyone not just children.

AlexaShutUp · 09/11/2018 22:32

It isn't that it isn't "allowed", which is an odd thing to say. Of course it is "allowed", but it's unexpected for someone with a degree in the subject to claim her favourite book is a children's book - it's like someone with a degree in Music saying their favourite music is Little Mix!

One of my supervisors at University used to say that his favourite book was Winnie the Pooh. If a kids' book is good enough for a Cambridge English professor, who am I to argue?!

elfycat · 09/11/2018 22:32

This literary snobbery is literally the bane of my life. Literally in the literal sense.

I have a literature degree, and am on a MA at the moment. I have to write about my literary influences in great detail and with may quotes.

I'm probably suppose to waffle Austin.. Rushdie... Tolstoy...

But how do I say I love Terry Pratchett and Anne McCaffrey. David Eddings and Tolkein, JK Rowling and Raymond Feist? I love their characters, their worlds, their adventures. I could lose weekend with these writers, and yet struggle to remember the plot to Joyce's 'The Dead' which is raved about and I've written academic essays about.

Harry Potter is a pure classic. Amazing adventure with realistic characters set in a world with enough RL to make you know it. I hope your daughter loves it and enjoys every word, because that's what reading is all about.

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 09/11/2018 22:34

I’m a mathematician and my favourite proof is “prove root 2 is irrational”. (This is a very basic proof for the uninitiated.)

It was the first proof I really “got” and the first time I understood what “proof” actually means. Plus at the time I learnt it I was falling in love for the first time and there is a warm fuzzy feeling in my mind linked up to that.

Cherulewis · 09/11/2018 22:36

I am over 40 and read Harry Potter because my nephew had them and my sister, who has an English Lit degree, told me I must read them because they are incredible books.

I also have an English Lit degree and my sister and I often recommend books to each other. I love Harry Potter. I am currently wearing Harry Potter pyjamas Grin thank you Primark.

I remember the frustration at finishing the books and having to wait a whole year for the next one. I also remember feeling incredibly sad when I finished the series.

I have several "favourite" books, and one of them is definitely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Celebelly · 09/11/2018 22:38

I'm a book editor for a living, and I would count the Harry Potter series as among my favourites – and I work on all kinds of fiction, including high-brow literary fiction. I also count some of the classics among my favourites too, if that's more acceptable (but when I'm feeling unwell or just a bit down, it's Harry Potter I reach for!).

Also, it's a good way to bond with students if you are interested in the same type of things they are – it's a lot more relatable a teacher telling a class of ten-year-olds that their favourite books are the Harry Potter novels than telling them their favourite book is an obscure piece of Russian literature.

ConsistentInsomniac · 09/11/2018 22:38

Ffs. Some of my favourite books are not exactly literary genius but they evoke the point of life that I read them in.

Are you always so judgmental?

8misskitty8 · 09/11/2018 22:39

If she said her favourite books were Biff and kipper with the magic key, then I’d be a bit concerned but Harry Potter ? Don’t see the issue.

You do realise that the Harry Potter books were written by someone with a teaching degree ?

J.k. Rowling was working as a secondary teacher here in Scotland while she wrote parts of the Harry Potter series. She taught my brother.

HostaFireAndIce · 09/11/2018 22:40

I'm a teacher and I find Harry Potter turgid. Is that better or worse?

LRDtheFeministDragon · 09/11/2018 22:40

Another English Lit degree chiming in. I have an English Lit degree, an MA and a PhD and I've spent the last three-plus years teaching English Lit to students at the University of Cambridge. Still like Harry Potter, but honestly, compared to Harry Potter a lot of what I research looks much more trashy.

I'm currently writing a book about (amongst other things), a princess who embalms her lover's dead body and uses it as a dildo for seven years. Highbrow it is not. And it's all written in rhyming couplets and much of it is plagiarised from someone else.

blackchina · 09/11/2018 22:40

WTF? So what if she likes Harry Potter? Hmm

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 09/11/2018 22:43

If she said her favourite books were Biff and kipper with the magic key, then I’d be a bit concerned

When you’ve been “enjoying” “It was a pin. Gran sat on it. Gran was mad. Sid did it” and finally graduate to Biff and kipper and their magic key it feels very exciting!

blackchina · 09/11/2018 22:44

HP is better than some of the dire dirge that we had to tolerate in English Lit. The shit you have to read in GCSE and A level is painful. Boring as fuck.

RosieLancs · 09/11/2018 22:44

I have a PhD and if asked would say either The Faraway Tree or The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy are my favourite books.

I think what book(s) you would say were your favourite is a completely different thing to what type of books you are currently reading though I am currently reading the Hitchikers to my 8 year old twins as their bedtime story

Blanchedupetitpois · 09/11/2018 22:46

Do you have a degree yourself OP? Just because you seem insecure, like you expect people with degrees to be overtly intellectual / ostentatious about it. Having a degree doesn’t mean you don’t like popular things or exclusively have highbrow tastes.

toffee1000 · 09/11/2018 22:47

A girl I knew at university did English and German. Her English dissertation was on Harry Potter.

I totally agree that she was trying to relate to her class. If she’d said “my favourite book is Ulysses/Tess of the d’Urbervilles/” they would have been bored/not understood, as it’s unlikely they’d have read it. Many 11-12 year olds have read HP.

Also, liking the series doesn’t mean she dislikes every other book. Whilst I do like HP, I have plenty of other books I’ve also enjoyed.

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