HP and the democratic equilibrium(Re: Umbridge, brooms and DEs)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 87165

Geoff:
I dunno. I drop a few thoughts into the group, go to bed and here I 
am, at 7.30 in the morning faced with a whole screenfuls of replies. 
Without repeating too many thoughts, just a couple of pennyworths of 
my own:

Berit:

> I agree with Shaun: I stayed at a college, a boarding school, in
> Britain for four years, and can confirm his experience and knowledge
> o British style, traditional boarding schools :-) Though unfair,
> Umbridge had every "right" to confiscate Harry's broom...

Geoff:
A right being unfair sounds like a breeding ground for trouble. At a 
much higher level, it has been known to fuel things like apartheid, 
IRA problems in Northern Ireland and civle rights in the US....

Shaun:
> Remember - Professor McGonagall took Harry's broom away for quite
> a considerable amount of time in Prisoner of Azkaban - that wasn't
> confiscation, there were other reasons for it - but it certainly
> wasn't theft.

Geoff:
Yes, but that wasn't a confiscation as a punishment and it wasn't 
intended as an undated removal.


Shaun:
> In loco parentis is an *incredibly* powerful Common Law principle -
> and was even more so in the past. A teacher under British Common
> Law did have virtually the full powers of a parent over their
> students.

Geoff:
Hm, but a lot of UK parents are getting rather hard-nosed nowadays 
and see anything like that as an infringement of "Little Johnnie's" 
rights. For the last few years, some kids (the Malfoys of this 
world?) have only got to mutter to their parents about things not 
being to their  taste and the latter are beating a path to the 
classroom door or the head's office......