If Hogwarts were an American Boarding School..

[fionastewpeas]

No: HPFGUIDX 40677

I've been wondering about that. How would the academic structure be
different? I have no idea what a boarding school is like in America,
having never attended one here (I did board at a school in Jamaica but
since Jamaica is a former British possession, the system is relatively
similar to Hogwarts, including houses etc.) I have no idea what the
similarities and/or differences would be like. Any input?

One thing I've noticed in the Harry Potter series is just how innocent
the kids seem to be. Is that indicative of the Wizarding world as
separate from the Muggle? Or is it a British thing? Now granted, we
don't exactly see how the older kids act among themselves, since
everything is pretty much from Harry's POV and things _have_ matured
as Harry, Ron, Hermione do. But supposing Hogwarts were in America,
it's pretty fair to assume that the kids would be having all kinds of
hanky panky going on (and I do mean in a "naughty-naughty" kind of
way), regardless of their ages. 

In the books, most wizard kids wear Muggle clothes, but they pretty
much don't know very much about the muggle world (take Ron's
fascination with the coin that the Dursleys sent Harry one Christmas).
I wonder if it would be any different if Hogwarts were in America.
Would the wizard kids be obsessed with NSync and Britney Spears or
whatever the groups were at that time? Would they return to school
after summer holidays sporting tongue piercings and green hair?

For that matter, I wonder if a non-British student (say, an American
exchange kid) will set foot at Hogwarts. Should make for an
interesting twist, methinks :)

--Fiona