Spectral speculations, the IQ myth, & romantic ruminations...

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26742

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Angela Burgess" <MmeBurgess at m...> wrote:
> joym999 at a... wrote:
> <<There is NO evidence that Stan or Ernie or anyone else (except 
> Hagrid and that's different) flunked out of Hogwarts, nor have 
> we been presented with any evidence that some wizards and witches 
> are not intelligent enough to go to Hogwarts.>>
> 
> I could be wrong here, since I don't have my copy of PS/SS, but 
> didn't Neville say something about his family being worried that he 
> wouldn't make it in to Hogwarts?  I think that this was because he 
> didn't show any magic until he was dropped out the window by his 
> uncle.  Like I said, I could very well be wrong.

AND

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
> There is one piece of evidence that suggests that entry into 
> Hogwarts is predicated on ability, and that is Neville's relatives 
> being worried that he was "all muggle for ages" and wouldn't be 
> magic enough to get into Hogwarts.

Well, technically, if I may be so bold and nitpicky, the Neville 
incident (as quoted below) only indicates that if Neville were a squib 
(all-Muggle, as he says) he would not have been accepted to Hogwarts. 
 This has nothing really to do with intelligence, which was the 
premise of Joywitch's comments about Stan, Ernie, etc.

PS/SS Chap. 7, The Sorting Hat
(Neville speaking) "...the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages... 
[snip description of the Great Uncle Algie bouncing incident]...you 
should have seen their faces when I got in here--they thought I might 
not be magic enough to come"

So if Stan and Ernie didn't go, it was not because they were 
unintelligent, but because they were squibs.  But then readers have 
used their seeming lack of intelligence to conclude that perhaps they 
didn't go to Hogwarts.  This is somewhat circuitous logic.

-Luke