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

[gbannister10 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 87229


Shaun:
> My point in mentioning it was just to illustrate how different 
> countries have rather different educational traditions - so if 
> something about Hogwarts seems weird to an American reader, they 
> should bear in mind that it may not be because Hogwarts is a Wizard 
> school - it may just be because Hogwarts is a British school.
> 
> One prime example - prefects. I've encountered a significant number 
> of American Harry Potter fans who believe 'Prefects' are something 
> JKR made up. Same with the House system - they think that's 
> something she created for the books.
> 
> They don't realise that these are fairly normal (though certainly 
> not universal) features of British schooling - many schools have 
> prefects. Many schools have a house system.
> 

Geoff:
Also bear in mind that prefects and house systems are not only part 
of the boarding school system. When I was in th Sixth Form at my 
grammar school I was a prefect and we had a house system (four houses 
often seems to be a norm). Our local comprehensive college here in 
Somerset has houses, as do the Middle Schools. It's possible that 
Harry's school in the Little Whinging area had houses (and maybe 
prefects (*) so that their existence at Hogwarts did not come as a 
surprise.

(*) Some Junior or Middle schools will have "prefects" who are really 
class monitors at that age and do not not carry quite the same kudos 
as Fifth Year or Sixth Year folk.

Geoff