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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
explodingkitten · 10/11/2018 09:12

My favourite book is Jane Eyre. As a teen I loved Hamlet and the Catcher in the Rye. Even more impressing is that I read them in English which is a foreign language to me. I also love Harry Potter, Terry Goodkind and pre-1980s science fiction. People who love reading tend to read everything and anything. I think that you sound like a total snob to dismiss a book because it's for children. Maybe you should read it, it has some really good stances on loyalty and choosing the right thing to do. As you're on it, try reading "The wind in the willows" as well. Another childrens book that is fab. Try to figure out which animal you are.

RangeRider · 10/11/2018 09:35

My students can track my reading, as we all post notices in our classrooms of, "Mrs W is currently reading..." I read between 60 and 100 books a year, and my students will see when I am reading classics, or high quality non-fiction (one of my Year 7s noted that I had read multiple books on race and intersectionality this year, and I explained that it was a personal study for me this year. We had a great little class discussion for ten minutes).
Love this idea!

SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace · 10/11/2018 09:37

I would assume she's saying it to engage with the children, but then you'd be surprised how many English lit students still love Harry Potter.

echt · 10/11/2018 09:45

OP, you say you "thought she meant it" were you in the room?

Now you piss and moan about PPs taking it seriously when you have implicitly cast doubt on the credentials of your child's teacher's literary taste.

What's your taste in literature?

Take your time.

EmeraldShamrock · 10/11/2018 09:51

I am starting to believe Teachers are judged, as harsh or worse than smokers and obese people on Mumsnet. For all the Teachers of past and present lots of people wouldn't have the chance to read with a Teachers efforts.

EmeraldShamrock · 10/11/2018 09:52

Without

JanetBonnet · 10/11/2018 09:54

My dd has two A level English lit teachers.

One of them absolutely hates Harry Potter and thinks it is poorly written with a weak plot.

The other thinks that Harry Potter is great for literature! She actually uses it to explain thinks like ‘self fulfilling prophecies’.

Deadbudgie · 10/11/2018 09:57

Good on her stating what she likes rather than what she is supposed to like. Think this is a great role model for kids who often feel the need to like things because others expect them to

Rockbird · 10/11/2018 10:17

DD1's year 5 teacher last year was a HP fan, and a Slytherin but you can't win them all. The kids loved her. It's all about the connection with the class and she had a great connection with them. She's sorely missed.

JacquesHammer · 10/11/2018 10:20

DD has just started at secondary and has had a long discussion with her English teacher who loves HP.

DD thinks she’s wonderful.

userabcname · 10/11/2018 10:26

God I hate reading snobbery. I have an English degree, a Masters and I teach secondary English. I bloody love Harry Potter. Just let people enjoy things ffs.

scaryteacher · 10/11/2018 10:30

My degree is Theology and Philosophy with an English Lit minor. I love the HP books, and my favourite works of Theology are The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe series by CS Lewis. I read them as a kid as stories, and later for the meaning underneath.

I am 52 and love Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Jordan. Deboarh Harkness, and am currently working my way through Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files for the nth time. Shoot me because I've never managed more than a chapter of Dostoevsky.

Weetabixandshreddies · 10/11/2018 10:33

My children are adults now. They grew up alongside the HP books. As each new was released we all bought a copy and read them at the same time, discussing the plot, guessing what happened next. Every time a new film was released we went on the first night. It became a family tradition and has been such a lovely bonding experience.

One of my children is now a teacher. The other at university reading English.

If you were to ask them, HP would definitely be amongst their favourite books because of the memories around them. A favourite anything is a subjective, emotional choice. It isn't an academic pursuit is it? YABU

BlaaBlaaBlaa · 10/11/2018 10:36

It's doesn't mean she's only read Harry potter 🙄
People can have an emotional connection to a book for many reasons. Northern lights is one of my favourite books but I'd hate to think people were making a judgement about my intellect based on that.

Maybe she says it to make reading seem more accessible to children?

bandito · 10/11/2018 10:47

I teach KS2 and I say that all the time. I'm lying in order to encourage my children to read at one level higher than David Walliams. I would hope that most parents would realise what was going on when I said that to their child.

cragfastsheep · 10/11/2018 10:56

I studied Philosophy at Uni and we were all told by the Philosophy teacher to read HP as it would help us in our degree! I loved it (still do) loved reading it again to my children and will hopefully read it to my future Grandchildren. What would your child's reaction have been if the teacher had said Anna Karenina? Blank faces no doubt and you'd never have heard of the conversation.

MeOldChina · 10/11/2018 10:57

I don't believe that 'favourite' and 'best' necessarily mean the same thing.

A person's favourite is decided by them and them alone, for all sorts of different personal reasons.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 10/11/2018 11:03

DD has spent this week in A level biology classes studying genetics via Harry Potter and also weirdly Oompa Loompas. Are we supposed to look down on her (very highly qualified) biology teacher for making the topic approachable to 6th formers?

thecatsthecats · 10/11/2018 11:03

I do agree that there are several weaknesses to HP, and I refuse to get started on any of the parabola of shite she has produced since. But it's also the only book series I can't wait to share with my as yet non-existent children.

One of my favourite books is a less popular Daphne DuMaurier. It's incredibly gloomy and hopeless reading. Sets me off in a mood for days, and is a terrible example of a relationship. I don't mind if my future kids don't like it!

Would you be shocked if she shared my opinions on To Kill A Mockingbird? That it's problematic, simplistic in race relations, overrated and I was not in the least surprised when Go Set A Watchman dwelled upon the racist parts of Atticus nature, as that was how I'd read the book all along? Or is that in your pile of good literature?

(FWIW, it's not that I dislike TKAM, I just didn't understand why everyone fawned over it, the very quote about killing mockingbirds simplifies and infantilses other races!)

BillywigSting · 10/11/2018 11:07

I've read an awful lot of books including a fair few classics /more high brow stuff.

I'd still say Harry Potter is probably my favourite (either that or discworld). Definitely in part because I grew up with it, and it got me into reading more 'adult' books as a teenager.

Besides, there's actually quite a lot of interesting themes in the Harry Potter series to mull over. (classism and elitism being one of the most obvious ones)

Fridaydreamer · 10/11/2018 11:36

YABU in the sense that you feel someone with a degree in the subject should not love a book for the joy of it but instead on its literary status.

Our ‘favourite’ things are tied up in emotions and feelings. Books are no different. We love what we love and their status or heirarchy means nothing to that love.

It’s like telling someone whose favourite colour is purple, that they should in fact prefer blue since it’s more serious!!!

We love the books we love not because of their standing in the community or their status, but because of how they made us feel, laugh, cry, wonder, and submerge us in another world.

Harry Potter has touched millions and should not be seen as ‘less’ just because it didn’t move you as it has others or because you seen it of a lesser status.

blackchina · 10/11/2018 12:05

@FridayDreamer

Harry Potter has touched millions and should not be seen as ‘less’ just because it didn’t move you as it has others or because you seen it of a lesser status.

You don't seriously think that the OP has actually READ any of the Harry Potter books do ya?! Grin

BlueJava · 10/11/2018 12:08

I see what you mean but probably she has had to analyse every "high brow" (whatever that means) book she came across. HP is just read it, get lost in it's world and enjoy it. So I can it happening.

dontgobaconmyheart · 10/11/2018 12:19

I quite often say the Harry Potter books are my 'favourite' - I adored them when they came out (I was about 10) and they reignited my love for reading a series of books and having the desperate excitement for the next one. I'm reasonably well read and educated and have read many better written books I suppose or more profound ones but they are still my favourite based on the magic of them and the sentimentalism. Favourite book doesn't necessarily equate to 'the best written and most impressive book I've read.

tillytrotter21 · 10/11/2018 12:55

am starting to believe Teachers are judged, as harsh or worse than smokers and obese people on Mumsnet. For all the Teachers of past and present lots of people wouldn't have the chance to read with a Teachers efforts

What took you so long?? The philosophy of many on MN is that they have the right to dictate a teacher's life and that that life should be perfect, unlike their own.

To go back to the original post had the teacher said she liked a long list of 'good' works your child might have come home and claimed that the teacher was snobby and you would be here to complain!!
Many teachers think they owe JKR an enormous debt of gratitude, more boys than ever are reading for pleasure thanks to HP.