the case for slytherin

[Lotte Douze]

No: HPFGUIDX 20002


> Jami wrote:
> 
> "Hagrid did say in PS/SS that every Dark witch and wizard had come out
> of  that house. Which makes me wonder ... why doesn't Dumbledore just
> abolish  the house of Slytherin completely? Let the Sorting Hat
> identify those  Slytherinish students, and boot them out the back door.
> Why give those with  the propensity toward evil, the tools they need to
> become better and  stronger wizards and witches?"

IMO the abolishing of Slytherin would not solve the problem. The dark 
wizards would still be there and probably found their own school. I can 
imagine they would be very revengefull towards Dumbledore. That would make 
things worse. The fact that all dark wizards come from Slytherin doesn't 
mean that all Slytherins are dark wizards. It wouldn't surprise me if 
Dumbledore tries to keep his Slytherins away from the dark side by showing 
them other possibilities, so they will be able to make their own choice 
(which, as we all know, is very important to Dumbledore). 


Ebony wrote: 
 
> Yet without the personality traits valued by Slytherin, the wizarding
> world  would be greatly diminished.  Both ambition and nationalism are
> great things  in healthy, measured doses.  I'm using "nationalism" here
> in a loose,  improper sense because I'm not sure what other term would
> fit.  I can't  believe that all Slyths are the magical equivalent of
> Nazis.  I do believe  that a Slytherin characteristic that *could* be
> construed as positive is  that they seem to greatly esteem their
> magical heritage.  That's no worse  than valuing your Scottish or
> Korean or Zapotec or Bantu or Maltese  heritage, right?  (All right,
> I'm reaching here... I know that these kids  seem to value the
> so-called purity of blood above all else.)
(snip)
> The Slytherin kids provide a needed balance for the rest of the
> students.   In real life there are many Slytherins... best to learn how
> to deal with  them in one's formative years, and not attempt to
> establish a pedagogical  utopia which is ultimately doomed to fail.
> 
> Other thoughts?
> 

I agree completely. 
And one more thing: We have only seen some awfull Slytherins (Draco c.s.) 
and we have seen the Slytherin house-behaviour, which is very nationalistic 
indeed. But there might be nice Slytherins as well. After all, the 
Hufflepuffs aren't always nice either (see CoS).

Lotte