No Graduation in the UK?

[Carol]

Steve bboyminn wrote:
><snip>
> Keep in mind that US students are usually 17 when they graduate.
><snip>

Carol responds:

That was true when I was young and students who entered kindergarten had to be five years old before December 31 of the year they entered school, meaning that kids whose birthdays were in September through December entered kindergarten at four and only those whose birthdays were in January through May were 18 when they graduated. 

Now, however, at least in Arizona, kids have to be five years old when they *enter* kindergarten. I think the cut-off date is August 31, just as it is in the HP books (only, of course, the age is 11, not five). In consequence, only one quarter of the students, those with summer birthdays (June through August) are still 17 when they graduate. The majority are 18. (I was born in April, so I'd have been 18 regardless of the cut-off date.)

(In the HP books, since the summer holidays are just two months long, 5/6 of the students would be 18 when they finished Hogwarts--took their NEWTs if they don't actually graduate! Only those like Harry and Ginny with July or August birthdays would still be 17. Even Draco, with his June birthday, would have turned 18 before he finished school. James, born in May, Remus, born in March, and Severus and Lily, both born in January, would all have been 18. [Hermione was already 18 in September of what would have been her seventh year if she'd stayed at Hogwarts and must have been 19 when she finally took her NEWTs!] I think that JKR's own summer birthday, the same as Harry's, sometimes causes her to forget that most students don't remain the same age during a given school year. Why she persists in thinking that Fred and Dumbledore died in 1997, not 1998, I don't know. Maybe she forgets that the year itself also changes--the seventh year starts out as 1997, true, but it doesn't stay there.)

Carol, just picking up on this one point and aware that other states may have different laws from Arizona (or the WW)