In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Voldemort had just returned and dark times taken hold of the wizarding world. Because many people were unaware of this fact, those who alerted Hogwarts about his return were in a small minority that included Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few others. The Ministry of Magic didn’t believe Voldemort had returned and were greatly concerned that Harry and the others could cause unnecessary and destabilizing panic with their allegations. The result of these fears was the increased role of the Ministry of Magic in Hogwarts operations. I am unsure if J.K. Rowling meant for this story to show the possible ills of government involvement in education, but regardless, the film depicts them well.
The Ministry sent Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge to observe Hogwarts curriculum and assure the school that Voldemort hadn’t returned. Right away, Umbridge altered the school curriculum, especially in the Defense Against The Dark Arts class. She initiated a form of standardized testing, called Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) Exams. Additionally, the more practical education of learning and then practicing spells for self-defense was replaced with textbook-oriented learning that was “carefully structured, and Ministry approved.” When Hermione and Ron asked why they weren't going to actually perform defense spells, Umbridge stressed the importance of learning about spells in a “safe and risk-free” environment. Harry became frustrated and claimed this new style of learning would leave people defenseless to protect themselves from “I don’t know…VOLDEMORT?”
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After several classes of mindlessly copying down notes and discovering that Voldemort actually had returned, the students realized they were gaining no real self-defense skills and pursued Harry’s guidance as a teacher. This group of students became known as Dumbledore’s Army. They met in secret to hone their skills with practicing spells and dueling, all aided by Harry’s expert teaching and patience with their development. After several meetings, Umbridge and Filch became more suspect of the students, which caused Umbridge to pass a plethora of educational decrees which banned clubs and organizations from the school and established the role of High Inquisitor. The practical education given by Harry served Dumbledore’s Army proved much better toward the end of the film when they encountered Voldemort and his followers and were able to fight.
O.W.L. Exams Relate to No Child Left Behind
The O.W.L. Examinations clearly connected to the one-size-fits-all standardized tests that were established by the No Child Left Behind Act. These tests, coupled with a clearly untenable 100-percent proficiency requirement incentivized states to find ways to improve test scores, but not necessarily produce more knowledge. Lowering the difficulty of state standardized tests was a common way to do this. In real life, students’ curricula are based around passing standardized tests but lack in teaching about how to conduct finances, communicate with others and audiences, or how to network with people — all crucial skills to have in the job market and in personal finance. In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," government involvement in the education at Hogwarts was preventing real knowledge and self-defense skills that are crucial to witchcraft and wizardry. The “safe and secure” environment wherein Hogwarts students learn from a textbook rather than from real world experiences prevented them from gaining these skills. So we have a situation in "Harry Potter" where the students were taught to pass these tests in a very sheltered environment but didn’t learn how to properly defend themselves from the dark forces of Voldemort, his followers, or anyone else who threatened them, which became an even more crucial skill to have when Voldemort returned.
The clear connections between the events of "Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix" and increased government involvement in education are in the lack of real-world skill building. The disconnect between what each respective government body felt was necessary for education and what the students actually needed was noticeable, and can open viewers’ eyes to some of the potential issues caused by government involvement in education.
