[HPforGrownups] If Muggles are unaware of Wizards, why do they agree to send their kids to Wizarding schools?

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 49666

On 11 Jan 2003 at 20:24, Peter Shea wrote:

> My wife, a shrewd Bulgarian (and a supporter of the Vratsa Vultures Quidditch Team), 
> looked up from reading GoF and posed the following questions:
> 
> If muggles are protected from knowledge of the wizarding world, why do muggle 
> parents (like those of Hermione Granger and Lily Evans Potter) appear to accept so 
> easily the existence of magic? And, more incredibly, why do they agree to the  
> education of their children in wizarding schools where the children are prepared to live 
> in clandestine wizard communities rather than participate in the wider muggle world? I 
> quote Aunt Petunia in PS/SS:
> 
> "...for my mother and father,oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of 
> having a witch in the family."

Another perspective from those I've seen (which I consider more likely, but as we're all 
speculating).

I do voluntary work in a situation that is somewhat analagous. I work with profoundly 
gifted children. This isn't the normal group typically described as gifted by schools - who 
tend to be around 1 in 25 kids, somewhere around that area. These are kids who have 
IQs at the 1 in 10,000 level or higher - even up to 1 in a million. The situation isn't a 
perfect match - wizarding skill is an entirely different ballgame - but it means I 
sometimes get to see parents who are slugged with a piece of information that may have 
come totally unexpectedly and may require them to consider completely restructuring 
the plans they had to help their kid.

Based on those experiences, I don't think we can assume that even if Aunt Petunia is 
accurately describing what she saw, that Harry's grandparents were genuinely happy to 
see Lily head off to Hogwarts, that they were genuinely proud.

Parents sometimes conceal their feelings about things like this. Consider the following 
scenario.

You suddenly discover your 11 year old daughter is a witch. You had no inkling of this. 
The idea seems absurd on the face of it - but there's proof. Frankly you are *totally* 
freaked out by this, you really wish it wasn't true. Maybe it even disturbs you.

*But* you're a loving parent who genuinely wants what is best for your daughter. You 
know this isn't something she chose. It's something she *is*. It's part of who she is, and 
it's not going to go away. What do you do?

Do you let your child know you think she's a freak? Do you let your child's siblings know 
you feel that way? Or do you - as a loving and supportive parent screw down those 
feelings and do your utmost to ensure your child *never* knows the way you feel? Or at 
least, doesn't know it now - doesn't have to deal with it as a child. Maybe later you can 
talk to them as an adult, and then come clean about your feelings. But as a child - no. 
You have a duty as a parent to ensure your child never knows.

And so you tell them you are proud of them. You convince them of this. You convince 
their siblings of this. You do what your child needs, and you be what your child needs 
you to be.

I've seen it happen with the parents of PG kids - and I can imagine it happening with 
Muggle parents of wizards and witches.

As for why they agree to send their kids to Hogwarts - same thing applies. They may not 
like it - the idea may scare them, horrify them, worry them. In all honesty, I'd be rather 
shocked if a parent in that situation *didn't* have those feelings.

But if it's where the child *needs* to be - then there are plenty of parents who will screw 
down their misgivings and their feelings, and never let the child know about them - 
because they care about their kids enough to give them what they *need* - even if it's 
not what the parents *want*.

If parents are decent people who take their role seriously - and hopefully most are - they 
don't have to *want* the child to go to a school they need - they just need to understand 
that it is what the child needs. The child's needs will come before the parent's desires.

But do you let the child know that? Maybe - depends on the kid. But certainly not 
always.

Were Lily's parents happy to see their daughter at Hogwarts? Were they proud to have 
a witch in the family? Maybe - but we can't know that.

Are Hermione's parents happy to see their child at Hogwarts? Or are they just 
supporting her in what they know she needs? No way of telling, really.

I wonder though... what would Hogwarts do in a case where a child wants to attend - but 
their Muggle parents don't want to allow it. I really wonder, with what we have seen of 
the Wizarding world, if they don't just take the child anyway. The average Wizard seems 
to have a fairly low opinion - patronising - of Muggles - I could see them as assuming 
they know best.

In PS/SS (page 47, British hardcover), Hagrid certainly seems to suggest the choice is 
Harry's and nobody elses.

"'If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him.'

Harry's situation is unusual - but even so, the Dursley's seem to be his legal guardians 
in both the Muggle world, and in the Wizarding one - and Hagrid doesn't seem to think 
their consent is needed.

Would Wizards regard Muggles as being equipped to make such a decision? Or would 
it just be presented as a fait accompli?

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately |webpage: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       |email: drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in
common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter
the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen
to be one of the facts that need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who:
The Face of Evil | Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia