[HPforGrownups] website SPOILERS . Who goes to Hogwarts

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 119838

 Juli wrote:
>What exactly do you mean by this? We've already seen all social
>classes at Hogwarts, from the so-called Royalty (Blacks, Malfoys), to
>orphans (Tom Riddle, Harry), to muggle-born (Hermione)...

Well, actually that fits quite well with Dave's perceptive post.

We have actually seen

- WW aristocracy (such as the Malfoys)
- "Ministry kids" (such as the Weasleys)
- and students whose background is in the Muggle world (such as Harry and
Hermione)

JKR has said that around a quarter of the Hogwarts students are Muggleborn -
given that she's also said that pressure is put on Muggle parents to respond
to the Hogwarts letter (they get a _visit_ from someone if they're not
inclined to cooperate), then it seems likely that there are very few
refusals from this source (those with one wizarding parent might have less
need of a magical education than those with two Muggle parents, who'd have a
real job making their way in a totally alien world). Context suggests that
the WW couldn't have kept its cultural distinctiveness if the proportion of
Muggle borns was a high as 25%, therefore (depending on your preference)
there's a greater or lesser lump of wizarding families who turn down the
offer. Why would they do that? Partially perhaps because Hogwarts is seen as
being an elite academy for the social and political elite - the three
quarters who have two wizarding parents are destined to be the movers and
shakers of the WW in their future life, probably the lion's share of them
joining the MoM when they leave.

What we haven't seen (or at least had pointed out to us) at Hogwarts are any
wizarding students who are explicitly "wizarding commoners" - children of
the WW's eel farmers, innkeepers, bus drivers, and those who are
"off-screen" producing all the things that the WW needs.

But JKR alone knows all

Cheers

Ffred

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Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri