teaching/learning ethics in the WW (kinda long)

[o_caipora]

No: HPFGUIDX 83225

"jwcpgh" <jwcpgh at y...> wrote:

Certainly it's unintended, an probably inappropriate for this forum, 
but I couldn't help but wonder if Hogwarts' sex education course is 
consistent with the rest of the curriculum as you describe it:

> 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.

On a more serious note, you quoted:
 
> 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.
 
Honey, it sounds like the real world to me. In my city - a major 
City - the Journalists' Union's Ethics Committee had a member who'd 
tried to shoot another journalist, and tragedy was avoided only 
because her gun didn't go off. This was before she was elected to the 
committee, mind you. A prominent lawyer told me that the purpose of 
the Bar Association's Ethics Committee is to protect lawyers who've 
committed ethical violations, and protect lawyers' prerogatives. 

I think, Laura, that Rowling devotes more attention to ethical 
questions than most authors. The points given to Longbottom 
because "Sometimes it takes more courage to stand up to your friends 
than to stand up to your enemies" are a very clear statement of moral 
principle. Although Hermione clearly doesn't understand everything 
about house elves, SPEW is about ethics. Nicholas Flamel's decision 
to go quietly into that good night is also an ethical decision. 
Drinking unicorn's blood has clear moral consequences. Harry's 
decision to place rescuing the hostages over winning the Triwizard 
Cup trial in the lake is also clearly laid out as a moral choice.

Few authors of children's literature place such an emphasis on 
ethics. Of any literature, really: go to the airport bookstore and 
count the bestsellers with swastikas on the cover. They're useful 
because they provide "bad guys" without having to go to the trouble 
of explaining why they are bad. They just are, so let's skip the 
ethical questions and get on with the story. 

As to an ethics course, morals can be easily taught to children, much 
as logic can be. Ethics requires greater maturity. The reason 
children are treated differently under the law is that they cannot 
understand the consequences of their actions: and understanding the 
consequences of one's actions is what ethics is about. 
 
- Caipora