More Reflections on the Hogwarts Education

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

The child is not well-favored, is not charming in the least, and indeed must be admitted to be rather socially inept. But the worst drawback is the lack of well-connected family. In the WW, run on patronage as it is, that deficit can be crippling to both spirit and prospects.



But the child is bright, and creative, and fiercely ambitious. The child quickly shows an ability to perform well above others that age, even above older children. And someone on staff—the headmaster?—sees this and determines to give the child opportunities that the unfortunate background would otherwise make impossible, to let the child learn what ambitions might be possible and how they might be fulfilled. By a child bright enough and ambitious enough.

And so the student is encouraged not only to study the materials learned in class (and sometimes the class above, or the one above that), but to research and experiment independently. The student’s research is monitored by adults, mentored; staff members foster those avenues of inquiry that are truly original and possibly productive. The research drifts onto subjects not covered formally in the school curriculum, and letters of introduction are written to outside experts. Papers are written, and re-written, and eventually are good enough to be of interest to other researchers. By the time the student graduates, the student has not only garnered high NEWTs and a collection of school prizes, but has published articles in several learned journals.

This could have been Hogwarts for Miss Granger or for the Prince. This was what Hogwarts offered to Albus Dumbledore.

When Dumbledore was a student his creativity was fostered, cherished, channeled into academic endeavors that could win him (and his school) renown. When Dumbledore was headmaster, we only see students using creativity in secret or in despite of authority. Why was Snape never encouraged to publish his potions improvements or his creative little jinxes, nor the Weasley Twins offered tutelage in exchange for not testing products on eleven-year-olds?

This even applies, more distantly, to Tom—was he so hardened a psychopath that he could never have been tempted to trade fear for awed admiration, had another form of ambition been presented him?

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Dumbles starts reminding me of a certain Republican presidential candidate who benefited from higher education and is now tarnishing such education as 'snobbish'.

In one of Rowling's Pottermore comments she is quoted as saying that if there is enough demand additional classes such as alchemy are sometimes offered in NEWTs years (I'll look up the exact quote in the evening). So why didn't Hermione try this path?

One possibility is that she became cautious after her experience in third year.

Or perhaps she had trouble finding willing partners. Nobody in her own House was interested in expanding their knowledge. But we know she did have some contacts in other Houses - whether as a Prefect or through her participation in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. We know she managed to invite students from other Houses to the DA... Except, you know, how many of the Ravenclaws were still willing to collaborate with Hermione after seeing what happened to Marietta?

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

Pshaw! Hermione didn't need extra book-learning with others, who might even question her supreme knowledge. She was perfect as she was! Accio Horcrux books! And don't forget, "Me? Books and cleverness. There are more important things: friendship and bravery."

Terri's post does make me sad for what was lost, however. It's like this massive dumbing down of their society as a result of lowered educational standards and the focus on sports, celebrity, and class divisions. It's like they are losing whole generations to ignorance and elitism, where under-qualified people get top jobs based on the beliefs they hold rather than on what they know. That would never happen in the real world, though, would it?

[sunnyskywalker]

Rowling lost a great opportunity there to have us all going, "What a horrible dystopia! Good thing our educational and justice systems don't have these prob- oh, wait..." I mean, Dementors as a concretization of the dehumanizing effects of prisons and systems which increase recidivism? Fantastic. If she'd followed up on it.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

That's what is so infuriating about these books - so much potential just thrown away for cheap cop-outs.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

This, precisely. I think the problem is that JRK either didn't realize that she had written a dystopian setting or she figured it out partway through but refused to acknowledge it.

I tend to take the number of interviews in which she has insisted on a particular interpretation of her world and no other as a sign of the latter. Perhaps she realized that she had written a society filled with terrible, immature, emotionally stunted people but couldn't admit it enough to intentionally incorporate it into her story? I mean, as an amateur writer I can sort of relate. Nobody wants to realize that the characters that they like and have put so much time into are completely unlikeable, but it's still better than ignoring these character revelations instead of using them to make the story better.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that even when I was a fan there was something about the wizarding world that sort of bothered me- I just ignored it because there were so many other things that I thought were awesome about it. Probably was the total dysfunctionality of it all. In retrospect, it seems to be very much like a community run by a group of selfish children who don't think about the needs of anyone outside their clique- and sometimes not even them.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The link is here.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Dumbles' policies explain why the last 2 generations didn't receive encouragement and guidance, but what about Tom? Well, he was left to Horace, who did seek to promote him, until that time Tom asked that question. I wonder if he could have been redirected somewhat had Merrythought taken an interest.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

The other thing-- Horace seems to focus on people he recognizes as already possessing value, and connects them up. And Horace's connections are various--to the Ministry, the Quidditch teams, the entertainment industry....

So he fosters Mb Dirk Cresswell's entry into the Ministry, and might next year introduce Ginny to the captain of the Harpies, if he thinks she shapes up to be good enough.

All of which is valuable--read Jodel's "One Good Slytherin"--in a society that runs largely on nepotism. Slughorn, in his time, was responsible for escorting in the best new blood to the existing power structures, and introducing the most tolerant of the older families to parvenus that could serve them.

Slughorn's vision of Tom's future was "Minister of Magic within twenty years. Fifteen, if you keep sending me pineapple. I have excellent contacts at the Ministry."

Entirely blind to Tom's true creativity, no ounce of interest in fostering it. And blind, until the Horcrux conversation, of the kind of power Tom really wanted to yield.

Slughorn doesn't value creativity, he values the ability to contribute within the WW's existing framework. That's what he looks for, that's what he rewards.

Further, when do we see ever Slughorn woriking with a younger student, one less developed, someone who'd not yet established hirself but might well, with encouragement?

Because, see, I've known RL teens who've published academic research. Brilliance in the field doesn't give a child an automatic grasp of academic terminology, or an understanding of how to structure an experiment to hold up to peer review, or grant an unknown a hearing before the editors of a respected journal. Every one I've seen publish has had, besides a passion for and genuine talent in hir field, a mentor who showed them the ropes, made the necessary introductions, taught them and helped them edit the rough spots in the papers. ..

We don't ever see Horace doing that. For what he DID do, that further refinement was unnecessary. Horace was a broker, not a mentor.

So, no. Tom, and Severus later, had a possible broker, but no mentor.

Albus must have had a mentor. Someone who actively helped him to realize the ambitions that ALBUS had at age sixteen.

[oryx_leucoryx]

We know too little about Dumbles' teachers to guess who that mentor might have been (unless it was Flamel?). I'm sure the mentor received the appropriate acknowledgement, right? (The right not to be dead in a ditch, maybe?)

[sunnyskywalker]

I suppose Flamel might have gotten involved with the school every fifty years or so, just to keep an eye on things. Or maybe had a friend at Hogwarts tip him off about promising students he could correspond with and guide. Who else do we know was around then? Marchbanks, though she might not have actually been at the school other than once a year for examinations. Probably Merrythought, and we know nothing about her really. Phineas Nigellus? Except even if mentoring a great student would make him an advantageous ally someday, he supposedly didn't like kids, so maybe not.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

It is curious also to consider all of those prizes - who was giving them out, how the competitions were organized, and why they seem not to have been awarded recently.....

[oryx_leucoryx]

After the prizes were given to young Dumbly the committee or whatever that awarded them retired, knowing that nobody will be that worthy for centuries to come.