Choosing sides

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 118763


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:

> Del:
> But really my point is that accidental and wandless magic are
> extremely rare. They can hardly justify sending your kid away to 
> some unknown place, giving up on everything that is his life right 
> now, and abandoning any dreams or goals he might have had for the 
> future. I can understand why *some* parents and kids would do that, 
> but I can hardly imagine that *most* of them would do it.

We have no data besides Harry and Neville for the accidental magic, 
so we can't tell if it's rare or not for young magical kids--could 
be, could not.

But I don't think it's quite accurate to strike such a strict 
dichotomy as you're wanting to.  First of all, I am given to 
understand that boarding school is normal for a lot of kids in 
Britain--you'll be sending the kids somewhere, no matter what.  Then 
there is the other factor, that magic is pretty amazing, and may well 
trump the other talents that a kid is showing.

My point with bringing up the possibility of return into Muggle 
society at some level is that Muggleborns don't necessarily have to 
give up absolutely everything.  Some dreams can be transmuted (doctor 
into Healer, for example), and some can be pursued alongside a 
magical education, such as artistic interests.  A Muggleborn who goes 
home for the summer and gets dipped back into (as a hypothetic) a 
rich vein of Muggle artistic culture might really have something to 
bring into society.

Dreams and goals change, but I don't think it's following the Law of 
the Excluded Middle, as your argument seems to put forward.

-Nora hopes that students get to follow their own interests--hey, we 
never knew there were school clubs until OotP, right?