A sixth grade girl sits in her seat staring at a passage
from a standardized test the like of which shes taken
many times before. She knows the drill. Read the passage on
the advantages and disadvantages of solar power, underline
the thesis, topic sentences, and key words, so to more efficiently
answer the questions at the bottom of the page: The
authors point of view on solar power can best be expressed
in which of the following statements, blah, blah, blah."
Shes been told that her scores are important, the teacher,
the principal, her parents all want her to do well on this
test for lots and lots of reasons that do not matter to her
in the slightest (not even those personal ones about college
and some vague future that she cant believe will ever
really come about). She just wants to finish these passages
so she can have time to read something that seems infinitely
more real to her even though it describes the exploits of
a fictional child who goes to a fictional school.
Shifting in her uncomfortable seat, she frequently longs
for a magic broom to appear which could whisk her out of her
boring class to the infinitely more exciting ones at Hogwarts.
The students there dont just sit and take tests; instead,
they learn how to transform, attack, defend, stupefy, disappear,
heal, create; in short, they get to use magic. Or at least
they were able to because now suddenly in book five, Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a witch (literally)
by the name of Dolores Umbridge has taken over the school
and has forbidden the students to do anything practical. At
first, she enforces this only in her own class, defense
against the dark arts," where she changes the curriculum
from giving students practice in finding effective measures
to protect themselves against spells, ghosts and the occasional
perturbed pixies to having them sit in silence and read about
abstract theories that have no application to their lives
whatsoever. But now because the Ministry of Magic (the governmental
watchdogs whose job, it seems, is to take away all the fun
and creativity from the students lives) has given her
added power, Professor Umbridge visits the other teachers
classrooms and insists that they too revise their courses
to reflect her own pedagogical leanings.
I believe Professor Umbridge would already be happy with
most American classrooms where the current emphasis on testing
a standardized curricula prevents students from being involved
in their education, from learning anything practical, and,
ironically, from even remembering any of the details on which
they are being tested. The evidence for this is overwhelming,
yet so is the trend to continue with it. There are reasons
why this is sothe desire for greater efficiency, a reliance
on outdated Enlightenment philosophy, and our societys
obsession with measurable results. All of these reasons make
sense in light of their own logic, but they keep us from acknowledging
the best reason for students to come to school in the first
place, to learn magic. In the Harry Potter books, magic is
always a means through which students use language to create
something out of nothing, to impose their will upon others,
and to defend themselves against those who would impose their
will upon them. I believe students must learn this type of
magic now more than ever, although we do not have to call
it that; instead we can use a slightly more acceptable term,
rhetoric."
I say slightly" more acceptable because rhetoric
has gotten a bad rap lately. It is degraded as a mere"
word divorced from action, such as when Bill Clinton speaks
of not having sex with that woman" or George W.
Bush boasts of being a compassionate" conservative.
But according to its standard definition, rhetoric is the
means through which any kind of persuasion becomes accomplished
whether or not it leads to corresponding actions. At any rate,
it is almost impossible to speak definitively about what words
carry substance and what words are mere rhetoric, as any statement
can be challenged or justified with selective evidence. One
could look at our recent war with Iraq and argue that we removed
a horrible dictator while sending a chilling message to terrorists
in the region, or one could say we invented an excuse to snatch
up more oil while providing our enemies with a greater justification
for future attacks. Both sides can dismiss the others
views as rhetoric, but the fact is that the one who uses language
better is going to have greater powers of persuasion.
In Harry Potters universe, magic functions in much
the same manner. On the most immediate level, the students
at Hogwarts have to utter words in order for their wands
to function, and any mispronunciations or wavering of voice
will severely weaken or alter their spells. On a deeper level,
rhetorical magic functions in much the same way. William Covino
defines it as the process of inducing belief and creating
community with reference to the dynamics of a rhetorical situation."
The closeness of his definition to that of Kenneth Burkes
denotation of rhetoric as the use of language as a symbolic
means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond
to symbols," is not accidental, for Covino demonstrates
throughout his book Magic, Rhetoric and Literacy that
magic and rhetoric have similar histories and similar goals.
Despite the continuous disparagement of magic from the scientific
community and repeated attempts to reduce rhetoric and composition
to a recipe or technique, nothing stimulates human action
nearly as much as creative spells of words that weave their
own sense of reality.
Of course, as the Harry Potter books demonstrate many times,
these spells can be used for good or bad ends. Lord Valdemort
reveals the way in which rhetoric can be used for evil purposes,
carrying on the traditions of the master evil rhetor of the
previous century, Adolph Hitler. Similar to his real life
counterpart, Valdemort attempts to create a pure race of wizards,
recruits followers by promising them power, and attacks others
without mercy. Though Harry is able to stop him from time
to time, the only wizard who truly keeps Valdemort at bay
is Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. While Valdemort
desires to impose an extremely regimented magic for the right
people, Dumbledore is more of a tolerant guide, encouraging
all his students to explore the possibilities their studies
can bring them. In so doing, he invites them to think for
themselves and to act accordingly even if it means that they
break the rules that he himself set out.
Though Dolores Umbridge is not directly in league with Lord
Valdemort, she works towards similar ends and against the
desires of Dumbledore, whom she eventually replaces (but not,
of course, for long). From the start, Umbridge attempts to
make her classroom have as little to do with the outside world
as possible. The other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers
had their problems too, but at least they all knew that the
students needed to learn how to defend themselves against
an unpredictable array of potential dangers. Under Umbridge,
the students now must sit through class and read a standardized
textbook, titled Basics for Beginners," drained,
as most of such manuals are, of any excitement, controversy,
or spirit. The book as well as the pedagogy that inspired
it runs contrary to the way magic works in the Harry Potter
universe, which fits with Covinos characterization:
the magical world is one in which language can bewitch
the soul, and it is also unstable and dynamic, spirited and
licentious." Stripping magic of its essential nature
leaves the students bored, restless, and unprepared to deal
with anything of consequence outside the classroom.
Of course, the writers world is also one in which language
can bewitch the soul" and is also unstable and
dynamic." But consider how many times classrooms attempt
to Umbridge" it into something bland, predictable,
unchanging. Consider the following all too typical instructions
given as part of a writing assignment:
Make certain that you have an Introduction, conclusion
and three body paragraphs, that the thesis is clearly stated
at the end of the first, and that topic sentences introduce
each of the remaining ones; do not use I" and
refer to any reaction as coming from the audience"
or the reader"; make certain that the grammar,
punctuation, and spelling are all correct, for points will
be taken off for any error or deviation of the above formula.
Do we wonder why students hate writing? First of all, the
focus is on a formula, not a generative form that can create
many variations. It asks for a singular point of view, as
opposed to one that can reflect the ambivalence that many
of us feel about certain issues. It demands the student leave
themselves and anyone real out of the essay and replace it
with a generic, predictable audience," and it makes
it clear that the point of the essay is to be correct, not
to move the audience or to make them consider something further.
Does this prepare students for anything other than writing
for this classroom? Has anyone ever seen essays like this
anywhere else? The purpose of this assignment is not to teach
students to write in a manner that will please anyone outside
of the classroom but to program them to follow orders, regimented
activities, and leaders who do not always have the students
best interests at heart. No magic in magic, no magic in rhetoric,
no magic in composition strips all of their essential nature.
Most students exposed to such pedagogy year after year follow
a rather predictable pattern of boredom, restlessness, and,
eventually, resignation. Fortunately, however, Harry and his
friends are not typical. Hermione Granger, the intellectual
leader of the group, is the first to object to Professor Umbridges
manner of teaching. To which Umbridge replies why I
cant imagine a situation arising in my classroom that
would require you to use a defensive spell
.You surely
arent expecting to be attacked during class?" When
Hermione objects further that the whole point of the class
is to prepare them for what they might face outside of it,
Umbridge attempts to put her eager student in her place:
Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss
Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet
voice.
No, but
Well then, Im afraid you are not qualified
to decide what the whole point of the class
is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have decided
our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive
spells in a secure, risk-free way."
Her response is extremely telling; first, she attempts to
strip Hermione of any power to decide the course of her own
education and then tries to change the nature of the subject
to fit within the confines of her pedagogy.
Composition/Rhetoric/Magic has never been risk free."
Whenever one uses words socially or personally, there is always
a great deal of risk that goes with it. So bored and disgusted
are they with Umbridges classroom, that Harry organizes
a group to meet secretly, so they can practice defense against
the dark arts on their own. Harry and his friends are not
just extraordinary in ability but also in resilience to the
wrong people and the inappropriate attitudes they attempt
to engender.
What we need to do is teach students correct magic,"
a process that is twofold: the ability to see through the
linguistic trickery of advertisers, politicians and the like,
and the ability to create our own more appropriate magical
spells. Only through critical thinking and the imagination
can both these abilities be achieved. But, alas, at Hogwarts,
as in most classrooms today, these are two activities that
tend to be discouraged. Where is there room for either in
a standardized test, in a composition formula? And even when
students are not taking tests, they tend to get shot down
when they try to articulate points of view that run contrary
to established positions. The exchange between Hermione and
Umbridge is typical of many Ive witnessed in classrooms
through the years, and for Harry matters are even worse. Even
at home, his imagination is continually stifled by his foster
family who try to make Harrys life as banal and routine
as possible.
Yet somehow Harry manages to keep hold of his imagination,
his critical thinking, and the good magic. In fact, his very
survival depends upon it. In each of the five books, Harry,
like most heroes, must undergo a series of obstacles to defeat
his enemies. And in each of these cases, Harry is not aided
so much by great strength or superior magical power as he
is by his ability to think through the situation and come
up with a creative solution that Valdemort doesnt expect.
Like Harry, students today are going to need to use critical
thinking to insure their survival. Consider the problems they
will have to face over the next few years: the inevitable
proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the consequences
of environmental decay and massive energy consumption, the
ethical questions that accompany technology. In order to survive
in a world that is becoming increasing dangerous, students
will need plenty of the correct magic" that Burke
and others recommend.
Yet it seems unlikely that education is preparing for this
to happen. John Taylor Gatto argues that American education
was designed to strip students of their power, and teach them
obedience in order to prepare them to fill the millions of
factory jobs that were opening up at the turn of the last
century. These early visionaries" of public education
followed a Prussian model of pedagogy that had the suppression
of democracy as a stated goal. This resulted, according to
H. L. Mencken, in a school system whose real goal was simply
to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe
level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put
down dissent and originality." The key words in education
todaystandardization," mainstreaming,"
efficiency"show that we continue to march
to the beat of the same pedagogical drums; in fact, we may
have sped them up to brush aside any time for creative thinking
in favor of increasing test scores.
Alas, as with Harry and his friends, our students may have
to find their own ways, outside of the classroom, to practice
magic.
October 2003
From Randy Fallows
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