Graduate: Re: British culture viewed through the Potterverse

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 58472

 Ali wrote:
 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!
  
  bboy_mn:
 
 There is graduation then again there is graduation which are not
 necessarily the same.

 
  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 
 the A-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. 

SNIP
 
 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.

Ali again:

I agree with everything that Pip said. However, to me, it is not 
simply that the words have different meanings. I would never use the 
word "alumini" for ex-school students. That is a word that is also 
only used for graduates of a university. If I had to call ex-
Hogwarts students anything, I might call them "Old-Hogwartians". 
However, the usage can be tranferred over to ex-Hogwarts students 
with ease as they are the same in the US or Britain, whatever name 
we choose to give them.

In Britain there is no equivalent of a successful completion of 
studies at school. We move up a year whether we have been 
outstandingly successful or can't read or write (usually). There is 
no set level at GSCE or A'Level over which you can be judged to have 
successfully completed your schooling (Although schools are judged 
on how many kids get 5 or more GCSEs). If Hermione gets 12 OWLS she 
will undoubtedly have been very successful, if she gets say 5 grade 
A NEWTS, she will have passed with flying colours (assuming they 
work in a similar way to A'Levels). However, there is no prescribed 
number of A'Levels to prove your success. 1 or 4 might be needed for 
the school-leaver: it depends. 

I think it is this that is the problem: our lack of standardisation. 
Someone might get 9 GCSEs, but have failed maths. Would they have 
successfully completed that stage of their education or not? 
Applying that to Hogwarts, it is possible that Harry will pass all 
his OWLs, but fail Potions. Given that Potions appears to be very 
important, has he graduated from that stage or not? In the British 
system he could still move on, and perhaps retake that exam at a 
later date if he felt so inclined. However, as I would use the 
word "graduate", it would mean achieving a minimum acceptable 
standard in a predetermined range of subjects. It is this that does 
not happen in British schools.

Ali