Mises Wire

Harry Potter vs. Public Education

Harry Potter vs. Public Education

The latest Harry Potter’s book, The Order of Phoenix, has just been released in Italian. My sister, 13 years old, who thinks at herself as a cocktail made mixing up a bit of Hermione Granger and a bit of Galadriel (indeed, she’s definitely an ambitious girl), bought the book on Saturday morning and rushed into the 800 pages for 48 hours. What did she learn? “That you shouldn’t trust any government”, she explained me. If the Minister of Magic is always trying to get rid of Albus Silente, how could you even believe that he is to be trusted?

Yesterday, it was my turn. I found the Order of Phoenix to be very entertaining and very easy to read. I was unable to do anything else than reading it for seven hours. In addition to that, even though J.K. Rowling is very pc, I think the book is quite good to illuminate people about the dangers of state-controlled education. After all, Harry is fighting all the time against this evil bureaucrat who wants to discredit him and exercises a stronger and stronger control on Hogswards. With Hermonione, Ron and the usual suspects, the young wizard fights passionately against the politicians’ ambition to control his school. Too bad that young students, in the real world, aren’t fighting the same battle.

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