It seems to me that instead of teaching four the bagrut. The bagrut should be gotten rid of and students should be taught to read and think and do math. But since the big goal in our country is the bagrut...well enough said!

My younger cousins (7 - 12) seem to compete with one another on who is more illiterate. "I have only ever read one book in my life" "I have never even picked up a book let alone read one" My heart sank when I heard this. But then again out of my entire generation in the family it is only my brother and I, who were raised in Britain, that read and have a higher education. I don't blame my aunts or uncles. Education, reading, hobbies (beyond playing the guitar), and the outdoors are things that are simply not part of Israeli consciousness or rather the sub-consciousness anyway. Every Israeli says these things are eminently important and then gathers the kids together to watch the latest installment of "Hadoogmanyot" and discuss these banal wenches instead. Mortifyingly similar to the intellectual torpour of anytown Britain or USA gripping and crippling the futures of those two societies as well as Israel's. What is a dual-national to do?

I like literature also a lot and I have read them all when I was a teenager- i admit I have not read agnon as I was not brought up in israel but you seemingly do not understand what this is all about. even me today i can no more read what I used to read once as it simply does not really fit anymore. we have completely new energies on this earth and we do have completely new children with completely new energies and the stories told in harry potter have a lot to do with it!! - but when you do not have those energies and you are unable or porbably are afraid to tap into this you will never udnerstand why in fact it is much more important to the kids to read harry potter than read what you think is high literature. in fact it is harry potter that is much closer to their heart, where it feels more home and familiar and to judge this is a big mistake. we have so much violence today at schools because children are taught the things that are not true and not authentic and that do not touch there hearts and souls only their left brain and those children perfectly know that this is not their inner truth and this world is not the world they like to live in. what they need is not tolstoi and faulkner but to be treated with warmth, attention and without judgement and from a much more open point of view. When I remember all those big literature I have read I can say what it really touches was my sadness. Today I am free of judgement what big literature might be and I just attract the books that really warm my heart and help me grow. Besides that a kid who really likes literature will find and read literature. I was not brought up in a reading family and I have read tons of books. think it is good and completely appropiate to let them read harry potter and just the way you make fun of it is childish not the fact reading those books. But one important issue of the wars we have today is a war between the old and the new energies and it is always your choice where you want to be. hedy

The end of Israel will come, not from terrorism or a nuclear bomb, but from a collapse upon itself. We are rotting from the inside, just like all other great civilizations in the past. Unless we start a real dialogue on the existence and continuity of the Jewish people, I see no real future for us in the medium to long-term.

Why even bother to read ... can't we just show them the movie. And let's not forget to give those overworked teachers a raise and compensation for the time the kids will be watching the movie.

Ra'anan is opposing the left making ignorant vote slaves out of our youth - he needs to be re-educated with one of our metal baseball bat specialists.

A teacher is supposed to introduce something challenging and then make students to understand, arouse their curiosity and overcome some initial barriers. To replace the classics with Harry Potter is like replacing physical education with video games, or science classes with science fiction comic books. And why? Because our teachers obviously can't make the sense out of these classics themselves, because unlike science and math, to teach literature you need to go beyond some simple teaching manuals, you need to have some fascination and passion and independent thinking. Much easier to switch to Harry Potter, it's like switching from homemade dinners to junk food - no need to cook.

No matter how much your educational system has deteriorated, the system in the U.S. is completely broken. We only wish we had as good a system as you. At least your kids can read Harry Potter. Ours couldn't find the book in a bookstore on special display near the entrance.

I have never ever read a single line of Harry Potter! Still...I read books every day...! I wouldn't swop Homer with JK Rowling even if you paid me!

I think that Sheila got it wrong. The article deals with Hebrew and not English. I was taught Shakespeare, Wordsworth, etc. in Israel for the Bagrut, and found out that I knew more about English literature than English children who studied all their lives in England! I still think that Bialik, Tchernehovky, etc. should be taught at school just because nobody will take a book and read unless they have to do it for exam purposes. And Harry Potter can be fun to read in an English class, but not a Hebrew one. Next, the secondary school Israelis will read nursery rhymes for their exams! They see enough films, they play enough computer games, they talk on their mobiles enough, it's time that they should be educated, but first of all teachers should be paid more so that parents and pupils alike will show them respect.

It would make a great reading in English being an excellent example of modern language. But to read it translated for its literary qualities... Not worth it. PS I think next I should try to read Agnon in Hebrew.

Israeli teenagers read his books on their downtime anyways. Moreover, J.K. Rollins does not even write on a level to what Junior high or high-schoolers should be reading. It certainly will never prepare students for advanced literature studies should they choose them in university. This is not the way to go about improving our much complained about school system.

I feel that I was blessed to have found a love of reading at an early age. The books I began to read were much like the Harry Potter Series. However I found most of my peers at that age did not read and while I continued to higher education and to diversify my reading appetite those that i knew that did not read did not advance to higher education. During Graduate school I picked up the Harry Potter Series as a treat from more serious readings. I found them suprisingly rewarding and I could see why they were a great hit. There are many basic but important lessons to be learned in the books and more importantly it gave so many young people the spark/inspiration to read. . . that hopefully will be a life long investment. If young people don't have the drive to read anything they are not going to read the classics either. Harry Potter should be a part of any schools curriculam as a bridge to the literary worls.

Anna Karenina? It might be that the writer of this article has a vague impression of what HP are about (I doubt it, given the tone of the article). So, here's your wake-up call, buddy. Read the books first. They deal with friendship, injustice, prejudices, standing up for what is right even if one is in minority...Pitty this all is "too low" in matters of values in the eyes of the writer, who would prefer to teach the writings of an anti-semite such as Tolstoy.

back to read after HP. It's a shame that wasn't mentioned. Shame? Well, an obvious mistreating of the facts by an authour with an obscure agenda. BTW, what had he gor out of Anna Karenina? How to be a defeatist? How a woman's last resort in unfulfilled love is suicide? Do you really want the kids to learn that?

with anything else but Harry Potter

The lightening bolt on Harry's forehead under his bangs is a satanic symbol of the devil coming down to earth like a bolt of lightening. Children are being programmed and indoctinated into accepting the mark of the beast on their forehead or hand which will indicate they belong to the devil. If they do not get the mark which might be an RFID chip or RFID invisible tatoo readable by a scanning device, they will not be able to buy or sell. Irvin Baxter will be on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory April 21 radio show to discuss the Read ID act which is leading to the biblical mark of the beast legislation if it is not repealed. Most States have refused to implement it, so Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has delayed implementation another year to 2009. People must act to get the US Congress and US Senate to REPEAL the Real ID Act of 2005 NOW. It is a national ID that puts RFID chips into drivers' licenses with a national data base to track law abiding people. Employer sactions and closing the borders and putting up fences and walls would be more helpful in stopping the illegals and foreign prepositioned troops and criminals.

Reality check here. How many kids read at home for fun. You cannot run before you know how to walk and you cannot tackle the classics before you learn to read. Modern kids all over the world have forgotten the pleasures of reading. Using HP as a part of the curriculum can introduce them to the fun, later they can learn how to deal with "literature." Also the choice of reading curriculum here in Israel leaves much to be desired. Too much attention is paid to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky whereas some of the American and English great writers are ignored.

Have you read Harry Potter? I have. The HP books are as similar to a manual of witchcraft as The Kite Runner is a handbook on kite making. J, K. Rowling merely created an alternate world of magical men and animals. Should we ban Shakespeare because he has witches. Perhaps you see evil in everything because you have a dirty mind.

There were sorcerors in Egypt at the time of Moses that could even turn a wood staff into a snake. God turned the rod of Aaron and Moses into a snake that ATE the snake rod of the Egyptian sorcerors. Is sorcery healthy to learn when the Lord in the Bible tells His followers not to learn those crafts? Deuteronomy 18:10-12 in the Authorized King James Bible: "There shall not be found amony you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of the times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord they God doth drive them out from before thee." No. I have not polluted my mind with Harry Potter books or movies. One cannot avoid the advertisements that are full of witchcraft. I have read reviews of the books by like minded people who understand God hates such things.

books without coersion is that the devil and his demons are influential. They do not torment the minds of people who do their bidding, like reading about witchcraft skills in HP books, like they attack people who try to study the Bible. The devil WANTS children to be corrupted by HP books. He does NOT want children to be enlightened by the Bible. It was a YESHIVA that students were gunned down recently, not a Harry Potter fest. The devil hates the Bible and he hates God and he loves to corrupt children and you think that is all right. For such things, the Lord drove out the Canaanites before Joshua's Hebrews long ago. Read Deuteronomy chapter 18:9-14 in an Authorized King James Bible and learn for yourself the Lord will drive people out of their lands for doing such things.

That is more important than learning witchcraft.

says. Books that mislead children into thinking other friendships are lasting without God are not what children should learn. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. The sin of witchcraft in real life leads to the death of the friendship.

Instead of pushing opinions without data. Why not randomized kids to two reading list and test them for progress before and after. Push for information and data rather than opinionated arguments. It is actually a bore. I vote for Harry but certainly I could imagine that happy readers learn more English. The books are very well written and quite thoughtful. I would advise all the critics to read it first.