Muggle Parents of Magical Children

[random_monkey0_0]

No: HPFGUIDX 40782

Alexander, at some point, wrote:
>>Also consider the resistance of children. Would they like
this info to be spilled by their parents? Hardly. So add
this influence as well.<<

What about the Muggle child who wants to be a doctor _so bad_, but 
suddenly gets a letter (or representative, whatever) from Hogwarts.
You can't tell me the Hogwart's people won't pressure him to go there. 

For that matter, what about the wizard child who deciedes he/she wants 
to be an electrician or something? What if they want to go to a public 
school, then college? They'd have a heck of a time getting in, for one 
thing, unless they went to a Muggle elementary school.

> > > darrin_burnett wrote:

> But take Hermione's parents. They seem to have accepted all this. It 
> seems the one thing they ask of Hermione is that she fix her teeth 
> naturally. They are both dentists and perhaps violating the Muggle 
> laws of physics in dentistry is just too much for them.
> 
> But Hermione eventually gets them fixed magically anyway. Perhaps I 
> am missing the cultural difference here -- the boarding school 
> mentality where you send your child to a school to live as well as 
> learn -- but such behavior leads me to believe that the Grangers 
have 
> essentially lost their daughter to the Wizard world, and she's not 
> coming back. 

Yes, they do seem just a bit too relaxed about all this, don't they?;)
I think this is just a case of JKR being unrealistic. In reality, 
whether the parents approved or not, and no matter how many reps were 
sent, a parent would still be rather reluctant to let their child go. 
They would want to raise their child as much a muggle as possible.

Going back to my previous point: Imagine Bob Wizard reeealy wants to 
be a muggle physician. He goes to all the trouble of getting the 
University of His State (UHS) director of Pre-med (of _course_ the 
University of His State has a premed course!) to come speak to his 
parents ("I must warn you, my family's a bit eccentric," warns Bob). 
Mrs. Director reassures the family that they have nothing to worry 
about, that the Premed program is one of the best in the state, that 
almost all its students graduate, that Bob will get three square meals 
a day and will have to keep his dorm room door open if he has a woman 
over. 

After Mrs. Director leaves, Mr. and Mrs. Bob sit down and talk with 
their son. 

"We don't understand," says Mr. Bob.

"Why can't you be a doctor at St. Mungo's?" asks Mrs. Bob.

"Because I want to be a muggle doctor. It's wicked! They can do 
anything we can, only they use science! Machines, and blood 
transfusions, and surgeries..."

"Surgeries! Cutting and sewing people! Like garments!" exclaims Mr. 
Bob. 

Bob sighs. "This is what I want to do with my life," he says 
forcefully.

"But... Why? Why can't you be a normal doctor?" asks Mrs. Bob.

You see where this is going. It's strange territory, something the 
parents would never do, even if they got the opportunity (or at least, 
that's how they think, because they're parents)


> Sure, but imagine it happening to some Jerry Falwell-disciple. I 
> mean, there are plenty of anti-Harry Potter wackos out there. I 
> realize religious fundamentalism is perhaps not the force in the UK 
> that it is in the United States, but I would have to believe SOMEONE 
> somewhere would be against it.

SOMEONE is against almost everything. Someone is against teaching 
children the earth is round (Actually, several Someones; they're the 
Flat Earth society). That's probably why they have the 
noone-can-stop-you clause, for parents who are fanatically opposed to 
something without a basis. 

If Dudley did ever get a letter, he would probably go screaming into 
the street in front of a speeding car. That's just the kind of people 
the Dursleys are.

Alexander:
> >   My IMHO: Rowling would do a great favour for the world, if
> > she would just sit down and re-write the books, eliminating
> > all the stupid mistakes, troubles and inconsistencies.
> > 
Don't wea all? Even not adding anything, unless it was to solve 
flints, it would be great. But then, noone's perfect. Besides, then 
they'red be raging debates about which one was better. It'd end up 
being like the Star Wars trilogy (that's the _real_ trilogy, not the 
new ones).

The Random Monkey,