Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I started reading this book in an attempt to read all of the Harry Potter series with intention to look not only at the art of the writing but the message behind it all. What really stood out to me, instead, was the irresponsible, dangerous pedagogy at Hogwarts. Maybe starting out my twelfth year as a teacher, and the second year teaching during covid, really brought to light the pedagogy but either way it was hard to ignore. Let’s take Harry’s punishment for being out of bed, for example. Who decides that sending four 11 year olds into the forest, that has already been off-limits to them, at 11 o’clock at night? How did anyone think that was going to turn out ok? On top of that I really couldn’t look past how awful Snape treats Harry. I get why there’s beef there and there’s arguments for Snape pushing Harry to be the best because he was their only hope, blah, blah, blah, but at the end of the day it does seem inappropriate and unethical the way Dumbledore and McGonagall turn a blind eye to Snape’s behavior.