[HPforGrownups] How JKR depicts how we all live in England (Was Re: British V American)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 101743

On 17 Jun 2004 at 9:13, Jospehine wrote:

> The other day I was at a champagne reception at one of our West End 
> theatres and got talking to a lovely American woman who was visiting 
> from New York. She was, luckily, a great HP fan and ultra friendly as 
> most visitors are from the US. However, I got knocked for six when 
> she asked me if I was caned when I was at school. I'm sure she was 
> thinking about Harry's made up discipline at St. Brutus'. My eyes 
> widened as I explained, very politely, that caning has been banned in 
> the UK for quite some time.

But remember that the Harry Potter books are set in the past - not 
a long time in the past, but in the past nonetheless.

Consider that Prisoner of Azkaban (where we get the mention of St. 
Brutus) is set in 1993.

In 1992, while all state schools had been banned from using the 
cane for 6 years, and many private schools had also banned it, 
there were still a significant number of schools across the UK that 
were using the cane. It wasn't banned in private schools in Britain 
until 1998, and there were still at least 200 schools still using 
corporal punishment at the time of abolition across the UK.

It's really doesn't seem that surprising that someone like Aunt 
Marge would be asking that type of question back in 1993.






Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
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