[HPforGrownups] Re: Hogwarts: A tight schedule

[Barb P]

No: HPFGUIDX 43549


--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "lupinesque" <lupinesque at y...> wrote:
> Olivia wrote:
> 
> > > My question is, who's to say that the students only go to 
> > > school five days a week? I can't remember offhand, so I'll 
> > > read into it and maybe some people can inform me on the thread 
> > > that I'm wrong. But I can't seem to recall any evidence that 
> > > there were only five school days. That would certainly give 
> > > the teachers more time to spend teaching even more classes. 
> 
> Good thought.  We have to work out the timetable based on 
> scattered clues, and though there is no statement anywhere that 
> there are no classes on weekends, there are various canon 
> indications that lead to that conclusion.  Grey Wolf has pointed 
> out the Saturday Quidditch matches and visits to Hagrid; Saturday 
> is also the day of Hogsmeade visits  
 
Right.  Canon actually seems to be full of evidence that a number of things--but never classes--take place on the weekend.  Now, again, since we're seeing things from Harry's point of view, it could be that we only know the rule for students in first through fourth years.  After all, we didn't know until near the end of CoS that Harry and company would be taking additional classes starting in third year, which means they must have had a freer schedule than one might suppose in first and second year.  
 
Since we don't have book five yet, it is entirely possible that we will learn, once we get Harry's POV on being a fifth-year student, that fifth-, sixth- and seventh-year students are not segregated in their classes by house, but take their classes all together, except in cases where the physical facilities make this prohibitive (in the Potions dungeon, for instance, there are only work stations for twenty students, I believe, and a similar situation would be the case in Herbology).  Such a system would make weekend classes and loads of extra teachers unnecessary for the numbers to add up.
 
> Grey Wolf wrote:
> 
> > Olivia, we KNOW for sure that he didn't go over the maths: she 
> > has said so herself any number of times in interviews. 
> 
> I recall *our* saying so any number of times <g> but can't find an 
> interview where she admits it.  I searched The Goat Pen 
> using "maths," "math," and "numbers" with no relevant results--can 
> you give a reference?


I'd like this too!  Frankly, I've been afraid that folks might think I'm attacking JKR when I call her "innumerate."  I'm merely saying what I'd heard that she'd said, albeit second-hand.  I'd be very interested to know the first-hand source.

 
> > Sinistra is a woman in my translated edition, if that helps. 
> 
> Sorry, would that it did, but to the purist mind it resolves 
> nothing. Translators have to make their best guess, same as we do, 
> and AFAWK have no secret information from JKR.

 

I looked upon Professor Moody dancing with Professor Sinistra at the Yule Ball as evidence of her gender, since it seemed unlikely that JKR would suddenly do something so daring as depict two men dancing together at the Ball (::waves to slash fanfic writers::).
 
> > Other people have suggested that the teachers we know of are 
> > only heads of departments and that the classes are given out by 
> > lesser teachers so they can find time. However, this clashes 
> > directly with the fact that Harry has NEVER been teached by any 
> > other teacher than the ones attending the parties and 
> > ceremonies. 
> 
> Well, the clash isn't as direct as all that.  The only teachers 
> *mentioned* in the descriptions of dinners, etc. are the ones who 
> have taught Harry.  This doesn't mean there are no other teachers, 
> any more than Pansy's "gang of Slytherin girls" must consist of 
> only Millicent Bulstrode just because she's the only Slytherin 
> girl in that year we know by name (setting aside the androgynous 
> Blaise Zabini).  
> 
> Also, we know for a fact that not all teachers get a mention.  
> Professor Vector was never mentioned until PoA, when one of the 
> Trio had her for a class; ditto Trelawney; Professor Kettleburn 
> was probably at the head table for the first two years, without 
> JKR seeing fit to tell us about him; the Muggle Studies and 
> Ancient Runes professors have never been mentioned, though they 
> presumably exist. 


 
Right.  We never even hear of those teachers despite the fact that Hermione takes those courses in third year.  As for heads of departments and unseen teachers, it very well might be significant that Sinistra is described as the "head" of the Astronomy department.  When one thinks about it, this class is the only one which does not take place during the normal school day, but late at night.  This limits the time when this one teacher can teach all 280 students (IMO) even more than the other students.  If there are multiple astronomy teachers in multiple rooms up in the Astronomy Tower each night, this would make much more sense.  It's even entirely possible that Harry has been taught by one of these unseen Astronomy teachers, as we very seldom get ANY information on what goes on in this class.  This would probably be another class limited by equipment (telescopes) so it's possible that only two houses at a time in each year can be taught.  This would bring us to a total of fourteen classes, if they take Astronomy once a week.  With three instructors teaching simultaneously each of five evenings a week, it would be possible to do this, unless Sinistra is teaching three classes a night, at something like ten-thirty, midnight and one-thirty.  Somehow, though, making students take classes at one-thirty in the morning (until three o'clock) seems very cruel (midnight was bad enough). 

 
--Barb
 


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