Let's burn down the Houses

[meidbh]

No: HPFGUIDX 106825

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
"And instead of throwing him in Gryffindor along with the Trio so 
that he's got a chance to discover something new and maybe change 
his mind,the Hat obligingly puts him in the only House that won't 
challenge him!
 ...
I think it's high time someone takes the decision to burn down the 
Houses and rebuild a new system based on something arbitrary, like 
putting the (new !) names of the 4 Houses in that stupid Hat and 
having the students pick one blindly, for example."



Hmmm. Homogenise Hogwarts. Whatever would the founders say?

And "that stupid hat" - how cruel!

The Houses provide a substitute for the family (these are children 
after all) and most family members share a certain common view of 
the world. It's probably quite a good idea to put children who are 
likely to have a lot in common into the same Houses - it is after 
all their home for most of the year. They should still find more 
than enough challenges to their worldviews during the years they 
spend in the school. 

While the concept of competition between Houses could be seen as old 
fashioned, the idea of four Houses each with it's own distinct 
personality is timeless. We all want choice, to be able to choose 
the philosophy under which we or our children are educated. In the 
wizarding world there is only one place to go to school in Britain 
(as far as we know). It is probably a very good thing that within 
that school there are some choices. Each with its own flavour.

A far more intersting question is what happens if you enter school 
with the heart of a Slytherin and then change? Can you then change 
Houses?

It's the Slytherins in life that give Gryffindors the opportunity to 
be courageous! We need them :-)

Meidbh