Life imitates 'Order of the Phoenix'
June 22, 2004 at 10:46 PM ET
Cheeser
HPANA (via Reuters)
A reader sent in this disturbing news from Reuters:
Couldn't believe it when I read this article about a Japanese teacher forcing a student to write an apology in his own blood. It is way too much like one of the most shocking scenes in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This real-life teacher had to lend the student a decidedly nonmagical box cutter to draw the blood to be used as ink.
From the article
:
A Japanese teenager was forced by his teacher to write an apology in blood after dozing in the classroom, the school's principal said on Monday.
He said the boy was taken to the staff room of the school in Fukuoka City, southern Japan, after being caught asleep during a lesson. The 40-year-old male teacher handed the boy a box-cutter and paper and told him to write an apology in blood.
The teacher left the student, who then cut his finger and began to write an apology using his own blood.
The teacher is expected to return to work in a few days and neither the student nor his parents have requested a change in classes.
Fans of the Harry Potter novels will recall that the decidedly evil character Dolores Umbridge from the fifth installment forced Harry to use an enchanted quill to scribe various apologies and promises that scratched themselves into his hand as he wrote.
Thanks to Arlee for pointing out this shocking story and its coincidental relationship to Potter.