Pre-Hogwarts education (Re: focus on Hermione)

[jekatiska]

No: HPFGUIDX 111106


> HunterGreen wrote:

> Now, Angelina is in her sixth year at this point. Unless she was held 
> back (which I doubt very much), that means the cutoff date is no 
> later than October 28th (since this happened right around Halloween, 
> and October 30th was the beginning of a new week in 1994, so if her 
> birthday was Saturday the 29th, she *could* call it 'last week'). I'm 
> guessing the cutoff date is either Sept 1st, or Oct 1st. If it is 
> October, then it means that Hermione barely missed it.

Now, I know the cutoff date and characters' birthdays have been
discussed a lot here, but I would like to add this: I suppose the
Hogwarts cutoff date would have to be somehow synchronised with other
schools' dates, as I suppose the kids would be in different schools
before coming to Hogwarts. 

Which raises the question I really wanted to ask. (Pardon me if this
has been discussed here eaarlier, but there are too many messages to
comb through ;) What education do kids in wizarding families receive
prior to coming to Hogwarts? Judging from Ron's ignorance of muggle
things, I would presume they don't go to muggle schools. Even if he
managed to get through several years of British muggle schooling
without learning what an aqualung is by the age of 11, he could not
possibly avoid knowing more about football than anyone can possibly
need to. 

But then, if they go to a wizard primary school, wouldn't at least
some of them know each other before coming to Hogwarts? At least Ron
or Neville don't seem to know anyone when they first arrive. Malfoy,
on the other hand, already has his cronies, but this oculd be due to
their families being close, rather than going to the same primary school.

And if they go to a wizarding primary school, wouldn't they learn
something about magic there? So you could expect them to be better
prepared than muggle-born kids when they start Hogwarts. But Hagrid
said (and others showed) that this is not the case. Do they just learn
things like English and maths in primary school? Incidentally, what
bothers me about Hogwarts is the lack of subjects like maths (which
must be used at least in potions and astronomy) or languages. The
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students all spoke English, so I presume
they learn it at school. Did Bill write to his Brasilian pen-pal in
English or Portuguese? Charlie and the other dragon-handlers spoke
English, but wouldn't one expect there to be Romanians doing the same
job? Are British witches and wizards as reluctant to learn foreign
languages as British muggles?

Asks Jekatiska, who lives surrounded by ignorant British
undergraduates and would like to think wizards are better educated...