Graduate: Re: British culture viewed through the Potterverse

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 58458

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, artsylynda at a... wrote:
> > Ali:
> > 
> > > I never cease to cringe when posters mention Harry's 
> > > graduation; British kids don't graduate from school, so if 
> > > Harry graduates from Hogwarts that will be another first!
> 
> 
> > Lynda:
> > I have trouble keeping up with these boards, so I may have 
> > missed something somewhere -- if so, please accept my 
> > apologies!  But if British students don't "graduate," what  
> > happens at the end of their schooling?  ...edited...
> > 
> > Lynda 
> 
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> There is graduation then again there is graduation which are not
> necessarily the same.
> 
> There is the graduation ceremony, which people have indicated is a
> rare occurance in Britian. This is something that is very common in
> the US. Now even pre-school, kindergarden, grade/elementary school,
> and Junior High/middle school have graduation ceremonies.
> 
> In the other sense of the word, graduation is the SUCCESSFUL
> completion of a particular stage of schooling. 
<Snip> 

> So in Britain, if nothing else, your grades or the certification of
> your achievements on and successful completion of the GCSE's and 
> theA-Levels are your graduation. That is, the SUCCESSFUL certified 
> end of that stage or your education. In that sense, ceremony or no 
> ceremony,I have to assume the British students do graduate. 

Pip!Squeak:

No, they don't! The whole problem is that the word 'graduate' means 
different things in British English and American English. That is 
why the way U.S. readers use the word often makes British readers 
wince. They're using a construction that is perfectly correct in 
U.S. English and completely wrong in British English. [Like 'gotten' 
as the past tense of 'got'.] 

Look through the books and try and find a sentence where JKR refers 
to students 'graduating' from Hogwarts, or a Hogwarts 'graduate'. 
You won't find it, because in Britain the word 'graduate' refers to 
someone who's taken a degree.

If you look up 'graduate' in a British English dictionary (like the 
OED) you will find it defined as: 'a person who has been awarded a 
first academic degree', or *(N. American)* a high school diploma. 
The North American usage of the word *is* different.

I would never say that I graduated from Priestnall Comprehensive 
School (though by U.S. standards I did). I would say 'I went to 
Priestnall Comprehensive School. I graduated from Lancaster 
University.' Barty Crouch Jr. did not 'graduate' from Hogwarts. 
He 'went to' Hogwarts. Where he did stunningly well, with his 12 
OWLs and very likely top-grade NEWTs.

We Brits do sometimes use 'graduate' in a more colloquial sense - 
you may 'graduate' from lower level to higher-level courses. Snape 
might well say that 'I fear Longbottom will *never* be ready to 
graduate to Advanced Potions.'

But. We. Do. Not. Graduate. From. Secondary. School.

It's just one of those 'two countries separated by a common 
language' things. 'Graduate' no longer has the same meaning in both 
countries.


Pip!Squeak