[HPforGrownups] Late Start to Magical Education (Was: Re: WQ)

[Jesta Hijinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 53421

>  <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> > Sorry, but I've snipped the entire post. The thrust is that logic
> > would seem to indicate that magic kids should be much father ahead
> > of muggle kids when they first come to Hogwarts, and various people
> > had various explainations.
>
>I write:
>Well, actually the thrust of *my* post was that Hogwarts doesn't
>appear to assume that any of its students know anything about magic
>before first year, and that it also appears (probably in part as a
>result of this) that most magical families don't start teaching their
>children anything much about how to do magic prior to this point. This
>was, however, in response to the notion that at the very least
>familiarity should constitute something of an advantage; I agree that
>it should make things easier in some ways but get the impression that
>Hogwarts has designed its curriculum to avoid counting on it.
>
And Felinia adds:

Well, in GoF, we see little kids riding "toy" broomsticks (but they still 
fly, if not high), and the little 2-year-old using daddy's wand to enlarge a 
slug.

My guess is that the real issue for WW parents and teachers would be to hold 
in check some of the innate abilities of children born wizards and witches - 
for it seems you have to have a natural gift for it to begin with.  If the 
"magical spark" is lacking, that cannot be taught - even to children with 
wizard parents ("squibs").

It might get down to issues of correct curriculum - the parallel I'm 
thinking of is that I learned to read at age 2.5 by sitting in my 
great-aunt's or mother's lap and learning to follow along with words when I 
was read to.  They did not actively work to teach me, and I remember it was 
a tremendous fuss between my kindergarten teacher and my mother and brother 
because she could not believe that they had not worked to teach me - that it 
would have been impossible to stop me from learning.

Imagine a parallel, of a child with the natural abilities of, say, an 
Hermione Granger, who doesn't know s/he is a wizard, but can "make things 
happen" - and works to focus powers of concentration without actually 
employing any discipline.  I wonder, how would the MoM deal with a situation 
like that?

Felinia



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