[HPforGrownups] Wizard children responsibility (was: when is lights out ?)

[Alexander]

No: HPFGUIDX 33928

  Greetings!

> Jenett wrote to us:

J> (a lot of text information skipped ...)

J> Comparing this to Hogwarts - it's a little odd that the students don't
J> have much supervision. However, I get the impression that they're taught 
J> responsibility for their own actions much earlier in some ways than 
J> equivalent students in the Muggle world. 

J> (... and even more text information skipped)

J> -Jenett

  That's the point I was nurturing for a long time already.
It seems to me that wizards are much more responsible and
adult than muggle kids of the same age. Perhaps that has
something to do with the power they have (from the very
childhood they have to control their powers - Stephen King
wrote a novel about such girl - don't remember the name).

  There are countless examples that seem to support this
point of view. Students are not supervised in their dorms.
Students are on their own at Hogwarts Express. House points
system, representing the idea of "collective responsibility"
in it's best (and worst) form (should I add that collective
responsibility was the backbone of nazi occupation order?).
Nobody seems to control do students are visiting the Forest
or not...

  We would expect that most kids, who have so far lived with
their families under much more strict rules, to "go wild" at
first. Still, they don't. Of course, the amount of academic
study may have something to do with this, but still it does
not explain everything.

  From my ex-Soviet point of view, Hogwarts is an example of
pure anarchy (though it's the Order itself compared to
Russia of early 90'ies :). Even those of you who are of
Western origin and grown up in much more liberal environment
find Hogwarts extremely "unregulated". And still some
resemblance of order exists in the school. With minimum of
280 students of various ages, families, upbringings,
nationalities, heritage and genders, and only 12 professors,
1 director and 1 Filch to control them, such order can only
be imposed by students themselves. And for that to do, they
must have much more responsibility than their age would
suggest.

Sincerely yours,
Alexander Lomski,
(Gryffindor/Slytherin crossbreed),
avatar of Chaos serial number #TX-45690834.