Wizard demographics?

[blpurdom at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25513

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., vheggie at y... wrote:
> [snip]
> > 
> > As for the number of Wizarding schools, I think perhaps there'd 
be fewer than a half dozen in North Am.  Consider:  there are three 
such schools for all of Europe (if I may be allowed, this once, the 
common fallacy of calling Great Britain European <g>) -- we know this 
because only Hogwarts, Beaux Batons and Durmstrang had contestants in 
the Tri-Wizard Tournament.  
> > Such a regional event should include all schools in the region, 
> ergo there are only three.
> > 
> [snip]
 
In fact, Hermione says that they are the largest wizarding schools in 
Europe, so there must be some small, out of the way schools tucked 
into remote corners of the continent...probably language is a big 
reason for lots of little schools.  Durmstrang would probably have 
served the Soviet countries largely, when the USSR still existed, and 
possibly Scandanavian countries and countries with German as an 
official language (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg-
-maybe the Netherlands too).  Based upon the name of the school, I 
would guess that instruction would be in German, but it could be 
bilingual, German and Russian.  Beauxbatons would appeal to anyone 
whose child felt comfortable learning in French (folks from France, 
Switzerland again, Belgium again, Monte Carlo, parts of northern 
Italy, etc.).  Perhaps there is a smaller school that handles 
students from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania, using one of those 
languages as the common tongue.

In the New World, wizarding schools may also be divided according to 
language, so that Spanish-speaking students would probably not go to 
the same-schools as English-speaking ones.  On the east coast of 
North America, for instance, there may be one school which handles 
eastern Canada and New England (located most likely in New Foundland 
or on an island off the Maine coast).  The mid-Atlantic wizarding 
school would be either in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey or somewhere 
in Appalachia, while the south might have a school on an island off 
the South Carolina coast...unless it's further south in the Atlantic, 
as in a location known as the Bermuda Triangle...

Rambling done...

--Barb