"Harry Potter," "Hunger Games" and "Lord Of The Rings" books cause brain damage according to Graeme Whiting. The head of an independent school in Gloucester proposed that these titles and similar books are linked to mental illness and behavioral issues in children.
Metro reports that Graeme Whiting, who heads Acorn School in Nailsworth in Gloucester, believes that children should first be taught reality and beauty. The headmaster believes that children should have more help in getting a better grasp of what is real and what is beautiful before they are introduced to worlds of fantasies.
"I want children to read literature that is conducive to their age and leave those mystical and frightening texts for when they can discern reality, and when they have first learned to love beauty," headmaster Whiting said.
According to Graeme Whiting, children have purity and innocence at the onset. Exposing children to the ghouls, warlocks, witches and whatnots of the mainstream fantasy genre is a mistreatment of their young minds.
We solemnly swear there's lots to look forward to in #PrisonerofAzkaban. Things are beginning to get a lot darker... pic.twitter.com/UU7WlE5knv
— Pottermore (@pottermore) May 9, 2016
Whiting further said that giving children sensationalist books to read is like feeding them heaps of sugar. Such books are designed in this way to become addictive so that children will crave more and parents will buy more.
As such, parents unwarily feed this addiction, not knowing that the child's mind is being warped. '"It is the duty of parents to spend time to study such matters and form their own conclusions, not to think that because the world is filled with such sensational literature they have to have it for their children, because everyone else does!" Whiting concluded.
We have you covered, here's everything you need to know about Parseltongue: https://t.co/fWuyIBateg #ReadTheMagic pic.twitter.com/MPXn2DSSPT — Pottermore (@pottermore) May 6, 2016
Reactions to Graeme Whiting's statements have largely been of indignation. Commenters point out that fantasy is an important aspect of childhood and development.
A Teacher's Journey To Life, however, points out that children are frequently automatically fed books that are detached from reality. This is true not only with books but also in children's songs and toys.
According to the article, the tragedy of this exposure is that adults carry with them what they were fed in childhood. The illusions continue into adulthood so that those who grew up on fantasy and fairy tales tend to exhibit disconnection to both reality and nature.
We’re looking at the best of each house; find out why it's great to be in Slytherin: https://t.co/IvbTyqjXc0 pic.twitter.com/S45skdxWfz
— Pottermore (@pottermore) April 23, 2016
Also suggested is that the resulting disconnection to reality may be the reason for mediocrity in most adults. Because the fantasy lives on to preoccupy the mind, not much focus is give to what is there and then.
This aligns with Plato's perspective that children are deeply influenced by stories they learn early in life. Plato advised that care should be taken against a false understanding of reality.
In Plato's view, the faculty to distinguish between an allegorical truth and a literal lie only develops as a person grows older. This being the case, Plato emphasized that children should not be given stories about spirits and outlandish creatures that foster fear and cowardice.
Instead, children should be given stories to develop courage, nobleness in one's heart and the importance of upholding truth. Ignorance of reality, according to Plato, is often mother to pain and disaster.
