The benefits of “Harry Potter” in the American elementary school system (and an ‘A’ for being featured on MuggleNet)
Student and MuggleNet reader Tyler Larson wrote to me this morning with a situation we hadn’t seen before. In a nutshell: “My teacher will bump my overall grade up to an ‘A’ if my paper is posted on MuggleNet.”
How could we say no to helping improve one’s grades? So, we’re happy to share with you ‘Harry Can Cast the Demons Out of the Schooling System,’ an argumentative paper on why the Harry Potter books should be in the American elementary school system. Read the entire paper here!
This paper hits close to home for me because I was first introduced to Sorcerer’s Stone when my 4th grade elementary teacher (Hi, Mrs. Wilson!) read the book to my class. An excerpt from Tyler’s paper follows:
“With a failing elementary system in the United States, using such an admired piece of literature should be open for discussion. The National Center for Educational Statistics (2005) found that “40% of fourth graders…cannot comprehend materials at their grade placement readability [level], even though they have received five [or more]…years of traditional instruction (The National Center for Educational Statistics). With an elementary schooling system in need of a boost, and the captivation kids have given the series, the public schooling system needs to try to work out a way to eliminate the controversy and include these books into the curriculum, which would keep kids interested in learning some dull but critical lessons in a much more exciting manor.”