[HPforGrownups] Re: universities / WizWorld structure

[Jennifer]

No: HPFGUIDX 24244

I think a most logical reason for why the wizarding world doesn't have
universities is a severe lack of occupants.  Not to say that there
aren't enough to fill up one or two, but how many different "majors"
would there be...and how few people would be in each one?  Really, I
think the apprentice method would work better (and pretty much appear to
be the same thing...several students at most working with one "master"
of a craft -- medicine, politics, teaching, etc).

On a similar note, and this just occurred to me, I have met many upper
level professors who have little to no teaching experience before they
arrived at their new job.  They pretty much got on-the-job training,
which is how the professors at Hogworts seem to learn.  Some people are
just good at teaching, some are not...and as we've noted, certain
teachers do not seem to be as good a choice as Dumbledore would've
probably liked (although who knows...I'll bet he knew just about exactly
what would be occuring if such-and-such a teacher were hired).

Hmmm, I sometimes get the impression that Hogworts is taught more like
the universities in the Muggle world than any middle/high school I've
seen -- based on teacher experience/behavior (how many public schools
woule *really* allow a teacher like Snape?  I can tell you, I've met
several college profs like that, but none quite that bad in public
schools), on class selection (some required, some electives), etc. 
Granted, there aren't 20-somethings running around, and in that respect
it's quite like any other school for that age...but there's something
about the style of instruction & school life that feels more like
college to me.  Any thoughts on this?

"Alexandra Y. Kwan" wrote:
> 
> --- Steve Vander Ark <vderark at bccs.org> wrote:
> > > But there *are* universities in medieval times.
> > The nobility
> > didn't use
> > > them, yes, but they still existed, no?
> >
> > Yes, there were, but there aren't in the Wizarding
> > World.
> 
> Which was the point.  You were saying that we should
> think of the wizarding world as similar to medieval
> societies.  Well, I was comparing the two and I'm
> questioning why doesn't the wizarding world has
> universities when the world that's supposedly similar
> does.  (Okay, I know it doesn't because JKR said so,
> but we've speculate on many other things as well; so,
> why not this one?)
> 
> little Alex
-- 
Jenny K.

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."