By Debbie Lamb

Thomas Jefferson once stated, "Minds must be left free to choose."

Tuesday afternoon a panel of educators and parents shared their feelings on J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series and whether it was evil. Their answers centered on the freedom to choose, and then analyze, information.

Everyone on the Eccles Conference Center panel -- titled "Is Harry Potter Evil? Censorship in Children's Libraries" and sponsored by the USU Library Week -- opposed banning the Harry Potter books.

Harry Potter first entered the list of most challenged books last year and quickly rose to the top, said Robert Flygare, monitor of the discussion and announcer for USU's football and basketball teams. The books' cult approach is the reason for some parents wanting the ban, he said.

"It's not very often that a book comes along that changes the way that we do business," said Vaughn Larson, the media director of the library at the Edith Bowen Elementary School. "[The] Harry Potter series is a good example of that."

Educating children is the key to reading controversial books, not banning them, said Karen Palmer, a panelist and representative of the parents' view. Teaching children to analyze issues such as religion will help them as they are faced with these challenges, to see the truth in all things, Palmer said.

Rob Gunn, a retired educator who was in the audience, just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the first of the four books in the series about an apprentice wizard, and he had reservations about allowing children to read the series.

"Because something is popular doesn't mean that it is good," Gunn said. "There are a lot of children here today, I bet if we offered them Twinkies every day, they would probably jump at the chance. As adults it is our responsibility to know ahead of time what really is good especially for a child."

"I don't think Harry Potter is bad literature," said Palmer. "It has good vocabulary. It has English vocabulary. You can choose to not have your kids read certain books. But not because it's popular doesn't mean that it's not good. I think that it is important for them to read the book so they can see the difference between what is fantasy and what is reality. It's your opinion that magic is not real. I don't have proof that it is or it isn't real."

Deborah Hobbs, an associate professor at USU, disagreed with the idea that Harry Potter was Twinkies for the brain. She read passages from the book where the characters used reasoning and logic to overcome their trials.

"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but it takes just as much to stand up to our friends," says Dumbledore, the leader of the school for wizards.

"I think Dumbledore is a very wise gentleman," Hobbs said. "I think that he is teaching Harry and his friends some great life lessons."

The choices we make in life really make us who we are, Hobbs said. Harry Potter makes for some rich discussions and life lessons that are being taught.

"I think if you are looking for bad that you will find it in anything," said Palmer. "We could be offended by I Dream of Jeannie or Bewitched because of the magical element. As adults we see things that children won't see and children see things that adults won't see."

MS
MS

September 1998
October 1998

January 1999
February 1999
March 1999
April 1999
September 1999
October 1999
November 1999
December 1999

January 2000
February 2000
March 2000
April 2000
May 2000
June 2000
July 2000
August 2000
September 2000
October 2000
November 2000
December 2000

January 2001
February 2001
March 2001
April 2001