I'm actually not sure how easy that would be, i mean it's not HP trivia. It's still an essay and you still have to compare it to another book (what if they have nothing in common?)

Argh I am absolutely gutted!! I took english literature this year and if I was a year younger I would be doing HP!!! I am absolutely gutted:( I suppose I could make myself a false identity and pretend I was a year younger... hmmm:D

i'm not liking with this, seeing as how i liked hamlet, to kill a mockingbird, their eyes were watching god, brave new world, and a couple other books UNTIL i had to study them in class and it completely ruined them for me. 1,200 words on the "approaches" of JK Rowling? ...eek.

How much do I wish I were British right now?

Gibberish? stfuuuuu! D: I'm moving to England after I graduate (next year). Figures I won't be finishing high school there.

I wish they had this in the US!! Then more people would discover the awesomeness of HP. p.s. anyone wishing to join the Mugglenet Marauders (a harry potter/mugglenet fan club) can go to robandalex.googlepages.co m/home------no spaces. cheers!

As much as I like Harry Potter, this is wrong. I did A level English language and literature separate subjects and what i studied were a lot more challenging and interesting than a children's book! I really can't believe this. Then again the Daily Mail is a pile of rubbish. The English Education system is rubbish as it is. Oh well it won't affect me!

Yet another reason I want to live in the UK!! xD

Well I was going to be taking Literature anyway ... but now I definatly am! Only a year to wait before I do my A Levels!

wow this is so cool. i'm doing A level literature next year so definitly looking forward to that. Oh and to people who don't get what an A- level is basicly after senior school which is age 11-16 where you get GCSE's you then go to college, this is normally for two years so then you leave when your 18 and go to university which is where you get degrees. hope that helps!

oh and forgot to put in the info on A-level above that college is where you take your A-levels which you need to get into university. :)

oh and forgot to put in the info on A-level above that college is where you take your A-levels which you need to get into university. :)

omg i wish i lived in the UK... i would so ace that test!

i wish i could take a test on HP

It would be amazing to have a test on Harry Potter. This is beyond cool!

Well, it looks like I missed a lot of fun. I take it phoenixknight went off the rails, again? And apparently he's created a number of new screen names so he can support himself? So far I've identified him as phoenixknight, Brit_Brit, Anti-Cheescake (or something like that.) I'm not convinced that he is phoenix_knight, yet, I think that's either Ari or Marie. Anyway, if someone would like to give me the run down of what went on in my absence, go to my livejournal and type it in there. http://anyamarcos.livejou rnal.com/

no fair! I want to write my SAT essay based off of the 1st Harry Potter book! :)

You wouldn't really want to study it for A-levels. One of our texts was BFG (we were comparing childrens' literature now with that of a hundred years ago) and I used to love Roald Dahl books, but I was glad to see the back of it. You study it pretty much word-for-word reading a whole load of meanings into things, which I'm sure the authors didn't even consider. I am so glad I don't have to do that to Harry Potter. I love the books, but I don't want to analyse every single word until it no longer means anything!

Here in Florida, I know they have let kids read HP for what is called excellulared reading test. From what I undertanc is that the kids read a book, take a test and received points for reading a book on the list. I'm not a teacher nor do I have kids in school. I work at a public library and thats how I learn about the test. Because of this test, I wonder if thats why kids do not like to read for plseaure, because of all the tests they had to take for reading.

I see where everyone is coming from with the whole not liking the book anymore after all the tests, but i think it would be a good opportunity to do an essay on a book that people actually like.

FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!!! NOW THERE'S A TEST I CAN PASS!!!!!

to bad i live in the america

it's times like these where i begin to hate america again. sigh. nooo fairrr.

"And students will have to show an understanding of J.K. Rowling's use of language, described recently as gibberish by a High Court judge." SO THERE, Mr/s. High Court judge! :p I'm organizing a mass immigration to England, who's with me?

Actually, Harry Potter is already on the syllabus for those doing A.S. Level (first half of the A-Level) language and literature with AQA. My school switched to this the year after I started my (just literature) A-Level and at first I was very jealous! However, after considering it for a while, I realised I'd much rather study Hamlet and read Harry Potter for fun - I just don't think there's enough in it for A-Level - GCSE maybe, but not A-Level.

Kaitlynnn! did you see what felixfelicis888 wrote in the beging of this page?

Im sorry if I confused you with someone else

cool. i think that sounds fun. harry potter is awesome literature. i want to know who the author is.

This absolutely makes my day. Last year, my senior year in high school, I got in a HUGE argument with my English teacher about Harry Potter. (Senior year was our "British lit" year, and my teacher--oddly enough--was British, even though we live in the middle-of-nowhere-oklahom a. In other words, she thought she was an expert on all things literature from across the pond.) She said that the Harry Potter books were written purely for childrens entertainment and that there was no depth to the story. Really? No depth huh? I was pretty ticked. She went on to tell me that JKR had no writing ability (which is why she is so successful right?) and that she wouldn't have the ability to write a quality novel if her life depended on it. WORD FOR WORD THERE, PEOPLE. Then I got sent to the office for arguing with her. How many people can say they've been sent to the office over Harry Potter? lol, imagine the look on my principal's face. priceless. Later, I found out she had never even read the books. wtf. I really want to print this out and go slide it in her mail box at the school.

dam sounds neat. can you volunteer. i am old and non brit, but would LUV to do this for a fan fiction site i think lots would like it

hey DARKENOUGH, sorry that was to get your attention. I was just wondering why you are bothering to comment on a board on a HP fan site when you insist on dissing HP. In case you didn't notice, HP may have started out as a childrens series, but it CERTAINLY did not finish that way. If you like HP so much then why did you call it uninteresting? Just curious.

Finally! Harry Potter finally gets some educational recognition! We always have to read 'the classics'....Is there gonna be some more news anytime soon?

That's amazing! It's just as if Harry Potter is now a subject! Can't wait to see Mugglecast talk about this one next week! (?)

MuggleCast?? Where art thou?

MUGGLECAST, anyone? hahaha vulture for life. GAKK!

ahhhhhh where is mugglecast?!?!?! i'm dying here!

Good question REMiHEARTSRUPERT!!! Wh at is a-level english? Also Let us just agree that hp series brought lit back to the world!!!

Cool!!!! : )

Awww, I wish I lived in the UK.

That is awesome! Don't worry those of you who don't live in the US, in higher level English courses (post-secondary) you can usually write about whatever you want. I go to the University of Toronto in Canada and to date I have written THREE term papers on HP. Once for a children's lit course where we actually read PS (reason why I took the course really). Another time I wrote on the mythological creatures in HP for my Myth course. Just last term I wrote on the quests and different worlds in HP. The last two didn't even include the books in the required reading. You just have to come up with a way to link the themes in the books to what you are studying. Personally, I think the books are SO good and specifically the canvas is so vast that you can talk about anything in relation to HP. Well, at least I can. Jo has done SUCH a phenomenal job that it really disgusts me when these big whigs who've never read the books say that they're not "literature". It's THEM who're talking Gibberish. I love the classics, but seriously, how many people did Dickens get to pick up a book for the first time in their lives? I have read a whole lot of people, contemporary and classic, and let me tell you Jo is my favourite author bar none. She deserves to be up there with the greats and it is really disgusting that her books are still classified as "children's books" when they are SO far from it. Oh well, I could go on and on about that... Someone could argue that Jo certainly gets more respect than Tolkien does. His books are classics and have been so for years yet are not credited as "literature". Anyways, bottom line - Good for the A-Level people!

GRANGERLAUGHS, sorry I didn't mean to come across as sounding quite so rude about Harry Potter. I think the books are great and the series as a whole is great for everyone to enjoy. I just think it's a bit weird to use for an an A level qualification. Then again I remember having to write a very young children's story for my A2 level English Language so maybe it's not so strange. :)

Believe me, this is nothing big or new. I'm in year 13, and i did Harry Potter and the Philosopher's in year 12 for an exam and compared it against Tom Brown's school days. A knowledge of Harry Potter and the other books is pointless, in actual fact it's a disadvantage. The typical question we had was: Which methods has the author used to convey ideas of immortality (or whatever theme)? Then we'd compare the methods used in Tom Brown and Harry Potter. We'd look at things like linguistics, attitudes and values, context, language features. By the end of the course i hated the first book. And Harry Potter has been on the syllabus for many years now.

my school used PS for AS English when i was there 3 years ago! and im sure it wasn't the only one! (if you dont already know, AS is the first half of your A level, A levels are the exams you take when you're 17/18, so just about to leave school if you havent left at 16. A levels get you into university)

Oh wow! I'm starting my A-Levels in Year 12 in September, so I might be doing this in English! That's well cool!

I think it cool that PS is getting some recognition by being made an A level text - but! for those of U who don't know (or those who've conveniently forgotten) there are atleast 6 examinning boards for A-levels, so it won't be on everyone's syllabus - probably only one or two. Also, there are several books to choose from on each syllabus, so if U have an anti-HP teacher, bad luck - there are hundreds of books for teachers to choose from.

:/ I have to agree with the critics. Harry Potter's a great story and all, with a handful of themes and motifs (love, love, and more love), but it really can't be compared to works like 'The Sound and the Fury' and other standard AP Lit fare. I can't comment on the A-levels as I'm American, but this does come off as appeasement and/or "dumbing down."

haha remi its like the SATs in the U.S.

THATS AMAZING!! IM DOING MY A levels next year! they so have to do that. il make my english literature class have a vote. If not il work on my own. I know Philosophers Stone just about off by heart anyway. yay i cant wait!

This is the best news that I've heard all day. I AM AN ENGLISH A-LEVEL STUDENT!!!!!!!!! And i've never been happier about it.

Excellent, but I don't think people would get sick of it. It'd be good to use a later book though because more of the plot's established. The language isn't too hard which is a bad thing because I usually wad out my essays with things like 'the author uses a juxtaposition to show the mixed emotions of the character' when it's obvious the author does no such thing. My teacher loves that though.