teaching/learning ethics in the WW (kinda long)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 83213

Since June posted her message #83074, I've been thinking about the 
teaching of ethics in the WW.  I haven't figured it all out clearly 
(since when has that stopped me?) but I do have a couple of comments 
and questions.

First, yes, I agree that it would probably be very difficult from an 
authorial point of view to show a discussion of formal ethics 
teaching.  So I wouldn't expect JKR to include one.

And, sure, there are constant discussions among characters about 
whether a certain action is desirable.  That can mean anything from 
whether it's allowed to whether it's safe to whether it's ethical.  
Most of these discussions include Hermione, I'd say.  But what's 
striking about them is that there's never a reference to any legal 
or moral code, so the discussions happen in a vacuum.  The 
alternative is that everyone knows the code so well that they never 
need to refer to it, but somehow I don't think that's the case.  

If we were designing a school curriculum that included ethical 
teaching, how would we do it?  It's not included in public school 
curricula as such because the assumption is that kids will receive 
that training from a religious institution and/or from home.  But 
Hogwarts isn't a public school in the US sense of the word; it's a 
state(as it were)-sponsored leadership training school.  So it might 
be expected to include a more comprehensive curriculum than a 
regular school would.

Now we know that it's impossible to teach certain subject without 
moral and ethical questions arising.  Discussions of literature, 
history and humanities inevitably touch on larger questions.  
Similarly, you'd think that in the WW, history of magic would get to 
some pretty important issues-or it would if Binns weren't such a 
waste of time (maybe he bored himself to death?).  

But most of the courses the kids take at Hogwarts are more practical 
than academic.  Sure, they all have theory involved, which is what 
homework tends to be about.  But wouldn't most listees agree that 
the students spend most of their class time practicing skills rather 
than listening to lectures or having discussions?  So maybe the 
better comparison is to classes like shop or cooking or driver's ed, 
in which there is theory but you can still learn the skill without 
becoming expert in the theory.  And when you take classes like that, 
the discussion component is pretty small, so you don't actually talk 
much about what why you should learn this particular skill set and 
how it might be misused.  Lectures by the teachers are usually about 
safety in the class and how to use the equipment properly.  That's 
the model we see in the HP books, I think.

Yet, charms and potions and so forth are more complicated than shop 
or cooking.  They involve changing the nature of physical reality, 
or changing someone's behavior, if only temporarily.  So you'd think 
that at some point there would be some acknowledgement of the 
questions raised by the practice of these powers.  The idea of 
teaching kids how to do this stuff in a moral vacuum is a bit 
disturbing, to say the least.  If I were designing the curriculum, I 
think I'd include a year-long ethics course that was required before 
leaving the school.  I'd want the kids to discuss their powers and 
the ramifications of using them in the WW-and the muggle world as 
well.  Of course, ideally this would be an ongoing part of magical 
training.  But in the absence of that, some hard discussions with 
some adults the kids respect would be welcome-sorry, Snape wouldn't 
be teaching this one.  

What about the WW as a whole?  I think Pippin's point in post # 
83126 is relevant here.  She says:
The wizards seem to live in a society where humanist
revolutions never took place. They don't think of people as
having equal individual rights; instead it's maintaining their rights
as wizards that concerns them.

Although ethics can be applied to group behavior, in the final 
analysis, it's an individual choice as to whether to follow them or 
not.  So maybe the whole area is just not as evolved as it is in a 
society that is more concerned about the individual.  The WW has 
laws forbidding the most extreme of curses, and it has lots of 
regulations-caluldron bottom thicknesses, imports of flying carpets, 
misuse of muggle artifacts.  But, as has been observed on this list 
before, it doesn't seem to have any stable, predictable justice 
system.  Maybe, as Pippin suggests, that's because survival of the 
group is the priority and individual behavior is dealt with on a 
much more ad hoc basis.

Anyhow, just some rough theories.  

Laura, junior ethicist