Lemon Sherbets and class scheduling/teacher/student size etc.

[aichambaye at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 12958

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:

> And in the UK editions, what is Dumbledore eating on Privet Drive?  
In 
> the US ed. it's lemon drops, i.e. hard candy (though possibly 
> Lemonheads, as vividly described by Amanda).

That was me, actually, not Amanda. He's eating sherbet lemons (the-
not-hard-candy-lemon-candy). I think I'm going to find some in 
London, and do a taste-test! 

But in all seriousness, I never think of lemon drops as hard candies -
 however, I never think to call anything a "drop". It's either a hard 
candy or I call it by its proper name (butterscotch, peppermint...). 
Regional disparity, perhaps? I'm from Missouri/Arkansas. 

> More on teachers' schedules:  very true, the classes could be (and 
> seem to be) on a college-type schedule rather than a 
> US-high-school-type schedule, i.e. they meet a couple times a week 
at where I had 7 preps and I think it was close to the limit of 
> possibility for a Muggle like myself.  Maybe wizards could handle 
> more, but 20? 

I teach the same class again and again and again. Once you've taught 
something, especially something as ancient as magic, how much does it 
change year-to-year? It's not a new prep unless you've never taught 
it before. If you've two classes of each year, that's 14 classes. 
Classes that are theoretically the same are still the same, in my 
experience, in terms of prep if not outcome. You don't need a 
seperate set of lecture notes. 

There is no reason to assume that there are only two class periods 
(AM and PM) per day, so I don't see any problem with the smallish 
number of teachers and the large number of students. In my high 
school of 600 students, there were about 18 teachers. Approximate 2 
hour class periods would yeild about 4 class period per day. 20 
classes per week. 

Not all subjects are required, either; we don't know if every year 
takes potions or transfiguration or astronomy. I took English every 
year in high school, but I only took math for three years, and 
science for three, and history three (different three in all cases). 


Heather M., who is certain she is forgetting something she wanted to 
say, but is still distracted by the thought of trying sherbet lemons.