Student population at Hogwarts (Long!)

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 18621

Hi --

Florence wrote:

> I don't believe the houses are equally sized.  Some of the quirkier
> English public schools (really top-notch private schools) have house
> systems where the houses are not equally sized.  I've always viewed
> Gryffindor as being one of the smaller houses (no evidence for this
> except for the small numbers in Harry's year).

I agree completely.  I wanted to clarify that there is another entire
section in the Hogwarts FAQ relating to this topic: the Sorting Hat &
Sorting Ceremony.  Included in that section is the notion that naturally
the houses are not equally-sized or there could be no sorting based on
the personality, merit, strengths & weaknesses of the individual
students.

However, when trying to discern the student population, it makes sense
mathematically to assume equal-sized houses for purposes of analyzing
the evidence.  Make sense?

I (and other proponents of the small student population theory) do
concede that Harry's year of Gryffindors could be smaller than the other
Houses for that year.  However, for there to be 1000 students (hence 140
students in Harry's year overall supposedly), there would have to be
wildly more Ravenclaws than the other 3 houses.  If, as Florence posits,
there could be sections within each House (Slytherin 1, Slytherin 2,
etc.), the shortage of teachers is really a problem I think.

Anyway ... just wanted to note that the business about the Sorting is
covered in another section of the FAQ.

Penny



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