Is education a right or a privilege in WW?

[Tara]

No: HPFGUIDX 103050

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...>
wrote:
> On 27 Jun 2004 at 14:05, djrfdh wrote:
> 
> >  So, how did Harry get into Hogwarts? By virtue of his "magical 
> > wizarding level"? Hardly, since he was not exposed to anything 
> > magical from age one to age eleven;( unless you count the odd things 
> > that seemed to "happen" whenever he got mad or upset!)  Did he get in 
> > because he was the "notable" son of two of Hogwarts most well-known 
> > students? Or did Harry gain entry because he was "famous" for having 
> > survived a LV attack and therefore entitled to the best "defensive" 
> > education as compensation for losing his parents, that the WW could 
> > offer? 
> 
> No, on the MQ/MP idea I've postulated he got in because his MP/MQ 
> was high enough (I suspect it's unusually high) and because he did 
> have exposure to magic as an infant which did trigger later 
> spontaneous magic.
> 
> What I have proposed is not an idea that requires a child to have 
> constant contact with magic - just *some* - to trigger magical 
> ability at MP 900. Harry had a solid year of it with his family. 
> That's enough. The key to the idea is that if there is virtually 
> none, it won't happen at that point - but Harry had at least some 
> (and being surrounded by protective magic may also have been a 
> factor).  


Me: Wait, why does a child have to be "exposed" to magic at some point
to qualify for Hogwarts?  Lily and Hermione were born to Muggles, had
no prior exposure to adult wizards, and turned out to be highly
qualified witches.  According to PS/SS, there's a book that records
the birth of every magic child born in Britain (regardless of
parentage or later experience with magic), and McGonagall simply
consults it every year to send out letters to the eleven-year-olds. 
It is my belief that every British child with any bit of magic in them
(except for Squibs, maybe) gets invited to Hogwarts.  Whether or not
they stay past their O.W.L.s depends on their personal academic ambition.

This whole theory about a magical quotient or whatever (and I may not
have seen all the posts on the subject) seems very interesting, but I
see no evidence for it in canon.

Tara