11-year-old Math Class

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 35644

"rollerramla" <rollerramla at h...> wrote:
> This is a question I've had for a very long time; in fact, from the 
> moment I started the books I wondered this. If the students enter 
> Hogwarts when they are 11 years old, then does that mean that they
> stop 
> learning math at a 5th grade (or the British equivalent) level? If
> so, 
> it seems that the students graduate having only learned simple 
> arithmetic! Any theories? I'd love to hear them. :)

I have no problem with the fact that everything would indicate that 
your theory is spot on. 

Magical people can count their Galleons, Sickles and Knuts (heck, 
even Hagrid, who's hardly the brightest of the bunch, has no 
difficulty with that), they can weigh their ingredients for potions 
and herbology...

For what would they need algebra, calculus, geometry, etc? As for 
anecdotal evidence, it's quite obvious that the Weasleys have no 
command of these concepts, judging by the appearance of their 
house... ;-)

Part of the concept of magical education is that all the academic 
disciplines we Muggles take for granted are of absolutely no value or 
interest to the magical community, and long may that remain the 
case. :-)

Incidentally, I suspect that JKR's invention of wizarding education 
at 11 is quite deliberate: in the UK education system, that is the 
stage by which one is deemed to have assimilated the basics of each 
subject, and when one goes to "big school" (to quote my nephew).

-- 
GulPlum, who would like to establish that he *liked* maths at school 
and was considered the star pupil of his class in the subject for a 
few years, so his views are not based on anti-maths sentiment...