British examination standards have reached an all time low following confirmation that the book Harry Potter, by J K Rowling is to be included in the A-Level examination syllabus from next year.
Groan. Harry Potter is undeniably an imaginative piece of work; so imaginative it borders on gobbledygook. J K Rowling has managed to corner the children´s literature market admirably with her tales of the boy wizard and his adventures in the land of wherever. Not so admirably, I might add, as her PR machine has managed to corner the product support market, with such items as Harry Potter school bags, dolls, souvenir diaries and so on. It is this marketing machine that is responsible to the greater degree for the incredible success of the book series, not Ms Rowling´s dealthless talent as a writer.
The books were hailed as cult 'must-have's' from their first inception, making J K Rowling deservedly a millionairess overnight, with movie offers coming out of the woodwork. That does not, however, make her books appropriate curriculum material for students striving for university entrance. For some of us, it still did not make her books interesting enough to get past page fifty. In my case, I believe the books good enough to borrow but not to buy; a definite case of one man´s meat, methinks...
Such decisions taken by our boards of examiners might lead one to believe that we are fast running out of contemporary material for A Level study. Certainly we are going down a slippery slope if we are to accept that the standard now aspired to within the terms of literary success may be described at best as entering the realms of fantasy.
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