ICSE, spare us Potterheads!

I gave my 10th board exams in February 2016. After a month of non- stop studying (obviously an over-exaggeration), when the Council exams finally ended, I was elated. I was finally “free”! Admission processes were over, I had no real work and on top of all of that I got nearly four months of vacation before school started because I was doing IB. But like every other batch that has passed the ICSE, I couldn’t wait to see how my juniors would do. There was a sadistic pleasure in knowing that the current tenth would now be slogging over the exact same portion that I was done with! It would be fun to watch them go through the agony of mugging 20 history chapters, page after page of geography and extremely unrealistic short stories and poems knowing that they would go through the same pain as you did. I know it sounds bad – but it’s pretty normal. 

Then, barely four months after starting IB, I hear this preposterous news: Harry Potter, Tintin, to be included in the ICSE portion?? WHAT. 

Initially, I was furious. Why couldn’t they have introduced this when I was still in ICSE? My friends and I are huge Harry Potter fans. I remember that we used to make Harry Potter quizzes for each other just to test our knowledge and each one would try their hardest to give their trickiest questions. As a result of this, our already excellent knowledge on Harry Potter improved even more. Armed with such skills, can you imagine how great studying this would be? I would be able to manage for at least an entire year without ever touching the book. And my love for the book would encourage me to study it better. 

But the more I thought about it, the less appetizing the idea sounded. Loving Harry Potter is one thing. Reading it for fun is one thing. But being forced to Study it, forced to draw parallels and make abstract conclusions about the theme and ideology of the book would be a completely different experience. When you study a book, the curriculum requires you to pick that book apart completely. It urges you to examine the smallest of things and justify the actions of characters. I slowly realized that I wouldn’t want to study my favourite book after all. In fact, it is my opinion that if you want to destroy your love for a book — then you should definitely study it. The simple joy of reading which emotionally bonds you with the words on a page is not going to be experienced when you analyse the text with cold detachment which will help you get the marks. I don’t want to justify why I liked certain things and why I didn’t. If I liked Hermione, I like her. I don’t want to write a three-page answer justifying my love and elaborating on her intrinsic qualities that appeals to the female readers. I don’t want to be forced to look for social problems and hidden meanings where there are none. Can you imagine answering questions like “Describe the ethical implications of Snape’s conduct towards Harry. (3)”, “Explain Voldemort’s train of thought in the graveyard scene of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. (3)”, “Justify the validity of the title Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and its significance in the book (4)” or “What social, political, or religious issue does the author wish to highlight using the Order of Phoenix as an example? (4)”. 

I REALLY don’t want to live in such a world. I love how adults crib about their kids not reading enough when they themselves turn reading (meant to be something that helps you relax) into an actual, unpleasant task which immediately puts the children off. I think Harry Potter and other such books should definitely be books that you read for fun— not something that you get homework on. Let’s not convert pieces of childhood into attempts at force-fed education. Let the magic remain so that even when we are adults, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome us home.