[HPforGrownups] Is education a right or a privilege in WW? Was: Re: More on Snape

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 102778

On 25 Jun 2004 at 2:48, dumbledore11214 wrote:

> Alla: 
> 
> Right, Neville's family was concerned that he was not MAGICAL ENOUGH 
> to get in Hogwarts and I was saying that every child FULLY MAGICAL 
> gets admitted.

Which *means* there is a minimum standard required. Which is 
precisely what I said.

If there are degrees of magical ability besides magic/non-magic - 
and Neville's statement implies that there are - and if a certain 
level is required to get into Hogwarts - and Neville's statement 
implies that there is - then Hogwarts is, as I said.

What you said was: "I understand what are you talking about 
perfectly, but I don't remember any proof in canon that to get to 
Hogwarts you have to reach certain standards."

I've provided the evidence from canon.

> Sorry, but what I deducted from that paragraph was that Neville's 
> family was worried that his magic was not strong enough.

Which means that you do 'have to reach certain standards' to get 
into Hogwarts.

> I could not find it right away, but I will definitely try some more. 
> Does not this quote imply that all magical children in england get 
> their Hogwarts letters?

Yes, but you can't take a single quote in an interview in 
isolation.

In an interview, JKR has to give a verbal response to a question 
without the ability to consider every single possible implication 
of what she is saying. A lot of the time answers given in an 
interview are not going to be *complete*. When you're asked a 
question and someone is after an answer right now, you're not going 
to always think of every little detail in answering it. People 
can't expect an author to be able to do that.

But when a person is writing, it's a bit different - because they 
have time to edit their statements, add in details they missed the 
first time, etc.

Now my view, and this is just my view, is that you take the books 
as your first source of information, and things like interviews 
with the author as secondary sources.

If the author say something in an interview that is fully 
consistent with the book, it should be pretty much accepted.

But in cases where there is a contradiction between the book and 
the interview, you need to consider why such a contradiction 
exists, and see how you can resolve it - giving primacy to the book 
because the nature of a book means you can easily correct errors.

To me the 'magical quill' statement can be reconciled with the book 
quite easily. The book implies there are minimum standards for 
entry beyond mere wizarding ability - you don't just have to be 
magic, you need to be magic enough.

If we're imagining a magic quill that can detect the birth of any 
child suitable for Hogwarts, to reconcile these two statements, we 
just have to consider the idea that the quill *doesn't* write down 
names of magic children who aren't magical enough. Part of the 
quill's magic is that it can make this assessment.

There are other possibilities as well. Neville could be wrong about 
his relatives fears. Neville's relatives could be paranoid so their 
fears have nothing to do with reality. Neville could have been 
deliberately mislead about how the process works.

All possible.

But personally, I think it's more likely that there is a minimum 
standard. The Wizarding Britain we see seems too large to me for 
only one school (even with 1000 pupils) to be large enough to 
service it if everyone went there.

One example - the stadium for the Quidditch World Cup seated 
100,000 people. Now even allowing for the fact that there were a 
lot of Bulgarians present as well as residents of the British 
isles, and probably some fans who were attending from other 
countries as well - there really does seem to be a very large 
Wizarding population around.

Within walking distance of Stoatshead Hill there are four wizarding 
families - the Weasleys, the Diggorys, the Lovegoods, and the 
Fawcetts.

The numbers to me just don't seem to add up if Hogwarts took 
everyone with magical ability in Britain.



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
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia


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