[HPforGrownups] Re: Lack of traditional academics...

[Andrew MacIan]

No: HPFGUIDX 33938

Greetings from Andrew!

One day I think a general treatise on what we know and
can deduce (well...guess, OK?) about the magic in
Rowling's universe should be written, with direct
parallels drawn to the magic(k) we have in the 'real'
world.

Now, let's look at our calendars....
--- tex23236 <jbryson at richmond.infi.net> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Andrew MacIan
> <andrew_macian at y...> wrote:
> > 
> 
> > One of, if not THE reason calculus was developed
> was
> > to assist in the study of planetary/Lunar motion. 
> > Similarly, physics got a start from the study of
> both
> > engineering and weapons/armor design.
> > 
> I notice that JKR's observarorty course was
> astronomy, not astrology,
> although I'm sure there is an astrological component
> to the course.

It seems that Rowling's world has the same rule ('As
above, so below') as we do.

> If
> the motion of the stars do have an influence on
> human affairs, and if
> this movement can be predicted mathematically, then,
> viola! we have 
> a predictive tool, and math taught in the class.

One hopes so; after all, somebody has to calculate all
of the ephemerides/annual ephemeris for use.  I know
that the Requisite Tables and &c that are published by
the USNO/RO/RN are the outgrowth of those originally
used for astrological purposes; something similar must
have occurred in the early days of Rowling's world.

Alternatively, of course, is that this is yet another
direct parallel to our 'real' world.

> 
> > That being true in period history, I would offer
> that
> > the same evolution(s) would have had some impact
> on
> > the 'wizarding' (what a solecism, IMO) world. 
> That
> > there  is no form of university education in
> Rowling's
> > universe makes no sense to me; I wonder if this a
> > means of sealing off the series after Hogwarts.
> 
> It may be that the population of the wizarding world
> is too small to 
> support a university.


Erm.  The lady across the table from me is a
geneticist; her take is that, given a gene pool the
size of the (current) US, there should be nearly 300k
people who qualify as 'magical'.

> Later learning may be from
> self study, 
> apprenticeships, and one-on-one instruction from
> other wizards.  
> Both V and D seem to have accomplished right much
> without formal 
> training after Hogwarts.

Concur, and this was handled very adroitly by the Cat
Lady (and I shall finish an answer to her shortly).

However...given the tentative population in the US, I
would hazard the guess that *some* form of formal
higher ed would become mandatory over time.  Presuming
this to be the case, the 'one-on-one'
brutalis....erm...*mentoring* would come as they
approached the equivalent of the MA/MSc or PhD/ScD;
such as I give my own pre-docs, so to speak.

> 
> Science fiction has stories about knowledge pills. 
> Maybe in JKR's 
> world you aquire Muggle knowledge with a potion,
> perhaps slipped 
> into the food.  Maybe the pumkin soda...

Mixed with gin for me, please!

{grin}

I await with interest your answer in re the thought
experiment post {nudge, nudge; wink, wink}.

Cheers,

Drieux

=====
ICQ # 76184391

'Each game of chess means there's one less
      Variation left to be played;
 Each day got through means one or two less
      Mistakes remain to be made.'
      --'Chess' by Sir Tim Rice

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