It gives me joy to know that I am not the only "bitter old fogey" around here...
thanks guys, you give me hope. Let me clarify that yes, Harry Potter and other contemporary literature gets kids reading (hell, *I* love the whole series, in my 20s!), and yes, it's important to find some literature that is relevant to kids' lives. But one cannot learn to think on Harry Potter alone. That would be like eating dessert for every meal and expecting it to be enough for your body.
I guess I am troubled that more and more people (especially adolescents) seem to grow away from an appreciation of reading. I feel sad that we have to applaud high schools for doing whatever they can to get kids to read... noble as it sounds, often it means dumbing down books to a reading level far below their grade. Really, by that age, most kids are capable of reading so much more difficult material, but fewer teachers and parents feel like forcing them to read it these days. But what can one do?
I know I felt like I was hitting a brick wall when I taught English... nothing stuck unless I used brightly flashing lights and did a song and dance/multimedia to persuade them. I hated stooping to those levels... I felt I was demeaning them, and yet that's what they are used to now.