[HPforGrownups] Re: Untapped Magical Potential (was: Is education a right ...)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 103031

On 27 Jun 2004 at 17:35, Steve wrote:

> Asian_lovr2:
> 
> Excellent analysis as always.

Thank you.
 
> I'm OK with everything you said, afteral, you are playing my favorite
> game - Logical Extention of the Wizard World, but my curiousity runs
> strongly toward the things you didn't say.
> 
> With only 1-in-4 magical people getting into Hogwarts, where do the
> other 3 go? That seems to be a tremendous amount of magical potential
> going to waste. 

Yes, in some ways it is.

But if a society only *needs* 1 in 4 of its population to be fully 
educated, it can be argued that it's actually a waste of resources 
to be training more than that. And that has been a very common 
viewpoint in history.

There's a rather famous book called 'Anatomy of Britain' by Anthony 
Sampson that I would recommend to anyone interested in looking at 
historical British society (which sometimes seems useful in 
considering Harry Potter and its influences). It was written in the 
early 1960s and was intended to look at how British society 
(specifically the upper levels of society, but it does look a bit 
at the general society). Unlike many similar books, this one is 
fairly simple to read, not overly burderned with academic jargon.

Remember this is *recent* history - the book was published only 42 
years ago.

It has a section on education, and I just want to quote a little 
bit from it. Remember that 'public school' in Britain is a term 
applied to the top private schools (at the time this book was 
written about 5% of British boys attended such a public schools).

"The education of the non-public school boy, as every parent knows, 
begins with one decisive selection at the age of eleven - the 
sorting-machine for producing Britain's elite. Most countries in 
Europe, including France, Germany and Russia, selected their clever 
boys at this age: among major Western countries, only America can 
afford to avoid this segregation, and to keep all their children 
together, without a special elite, until sixteen or eighteen... 
After eleven the clever children go to the 'grammar schools' in 
roughly the same way that French boys go on to lycees and colleges 
classiques, and Germnan boys to gymnasium. The less clever boys go 
to 'secondary modern schools', where most of them will leave at 
fifteen to go to work (the word 'modern', both here and in the 
French colleges modernes, is a curious euphemism for 'less clever') 
while a few go to 'secondary technical schools', where they learn 
more from lathes and workshops and less from books and grammar... 
The most striking feature... is the abrupt end for most children at 
fifteen - the official leaving age. In America, 75 per cent of 
children are still at school at seventeen: in Britain, only 12 per 
cent are." (from 'Anatomy of Britain' by Anthony Sampson (1962), p. 
183).

This is, I stress again, *recent* history. And it's recent history 
for most of the western world. The fact is, until very recently, 
there was a very clear understanding in most education systems that 
full access to secondary level education, was a privilege reserved 
only for the 'best' children.

There's a table in the same book on page 184 later that I'll scan 
and put on a webpage at 
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/sossampson.gif because it 
really ilustrates the point. Basically it shows the number of boys 
in each section of the British education system at each age from 
age 12-17.

Only those boys at the public schools (private fee-paying schools) 
and the boys who did best on their 11+ exam at age 11 and managed 
to get into a grammar school have any realistic chance of staying 
at school beyond the age of 15. The table is dramatic on this 
point.

This was the reality in Britain and most of the western world 
(except the United States) until very recently in history. And the 
Wizarding World seems a little behind our Muggle society - a little 
bit further back in time.

But basically, Muggle Britain in 1960 was operating on a system 
where at age 11, there was a 'cut'. The top 25% (23% according to 
the table in Sampson) went to schools at age 12 which gave them a 
reasonable chance of completing a full secondary education.

The other 75% (or 77% by Sampson) went to schools where while they 
*could* stay on till they were 17 and get a full secondary 
education, only just over 1% of them would do so.

This is the recent historical reality.

Now, it's important to realise that these people who didn't get 
into the grammar schools in Britain were not denied an education. 
They just didn't get the same education as that offered to the 
'lucky few'.  

The same may well apply in the Wizarding World - just because a 
Wizard doesn't get into Hogwarts doesn't mean their education 
necessarily ends. They may not go to school - but there are a lot 
of other ways of learning besides school. Apprenticeships, or 
cadetships, for example, are probably the most likely ways - and 
again until very recently were quite common paths to education in 
the 'Muggle' world - and in some cases, paths to quite 
sophisticated, well paid and respected jobs. 

In the Wizarding World, this seems perfectly plausible.

> Certainly we don't need to concern ourselves with those who are Squib
> and near-Squib; although, I don't believe Squibs are completely devoid
> of magical talent. But what about those who are just below the
> standard. Certainly over a lifetime, they will develope substantial
> magical potential, and it seem unwise not to mention dangerous, to
> have all the magical potential running around without any guidance or
> control.

Well, I suppose it depends on how you look at it.

My view is that Hogwarts provides a high quality 'general wizarding 
education'. The foundation in all the important areas of magic that 
a professional in Wizarding society may one day find useful, and a 
grounding in specific areas needed for higher training to be, for 
example, an Auror, or a Mediwitch.

Whereas, those Wizards who don't get into Hogwarts, get a more 
specialised education. They learn the skills needed for their 
specific job in great detail - and other areas are considered less 
important. They are not denied guidance, or control.

But does a wizard who will spend his life driving the Knight Bus, 
need to know much herbology? Or potions? Or transfiguration? Or 
care of magical creatures?

A *professional* - someone who may wind up holding high office in 
the Ministry, or an Auror, or a Healer - they in jobs where a broad 
knowledge may be important.

But for a lot of jobs, while broad knowledge might be nice to have, 
it's not likely to be that necessary to actually do your job.



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