[HPforGrownups] Re: THEORY: Hogwarts curriculum

[annegirl11 at juno.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 112156

Nora:
> But there's completely and utterly absolutely NO mention of it--and 
> the kids do have a pretty solid load of classes as it is.

I don't mean extra classes, I mean learning things as part of classes and
a more wholistic view of education. For example, rather than only
studying magical creatures in magical creature class, they also may study
art, because drawing is related to studying magical creatures. We're only
seeing the "magical" studies, and it's not like we're reading their
syllabi or perusing their textbooks. In between all the other stuff going
on in the books, who knows what the kids are learning.

I know there's no evidence of this. That's what makes it a theory or a
fanwank. I'm just saying it *could* work, that in the magical world,
educational topics are divided differently, and taught differently. Maybe
even better, so kids don't need to spend an entire year learning algebra
before they can apply it to arithmancy. Maybe blending algebra and
arithmancy makes learning maths clearer, because it's more relevant.

> Hogwarts is a school where you go to learn magic.  The classes are 
> overwhelmingly practical

That's what I'm saying: this is the perspective we get from Harry, but
maybe it's not the whole story. Maybe Harry (our narrator) just doesn't
feel like making note of boring muggle stuff like literature, art, etc.
We aren't with him every minute of the day, week, or year.

> Wizards don't generally do well at logic <snip> They have magic.  

That sounds like cultural bias to me: they don't learn things the way we
do, so their shortcomings must be because of differences from our
culture. We just don't know what's going on in the inner workings of the
Wizard world -- or the inner workings of any adult wizard -- because
Harry doesn't know.

And I apologize for talking so seriously about an imaginary, fairly silly
universe. :)

> that it's slightly telling that 
> Dumbledore and Flamel are both fans of a Muggle art form, classical 
> music.

Do we have any evidence that those classical musicans weren't wizards? (I
honestly don't remember.)

> Magic is the kind of thing 
> that helps stifle artistic creation

Now you're just being an art-fundie. That's like saying the computer is
the death of artwork. Photoshop can make things like shading, line, and
perspective easier, but if you don't have the talent, you're not going to
produce a decent work of art on Photoshop (trust me, I've tried, and I
suck as much as I do on paper). Similarly, I don't see why a wizard can't
use magic in his art. Imagine the kind of crazy artistic stunts Warhol
(some kind of floating, twisting mobias cube thing?), Calder
(transmogrifying the Eiffle tower into a self-supporting mobile?), or
that guy who put the umbrellas down the LA parkway (umbrellas 400 feet
above the parkway?) could pull with magic. 

Hieronomyous Bosh was *totally* in touch with the dark arts, yo. What a
wacko.

Basically, it comes down to this: we're only seeing things through Harry's
extremely limited, rather self-absorbed perspective; this is a kid who
still goggles at common items in the wizarding world when he's spent 5
years there. Considering the level of detail JKR has put into her books,
and the copious notes she took while constructing her world, we are safe
to assume that there's *much* more to the wizarding world than Hogwarts.

> We also know (per interview) that there are not wizarding 
> universities

So? Maybe they have other traditions for higher learning.
Apprenticeships, independant study, a general attitude that you don't
stop learning once you leave school. College isn't the be-all-end-all of
gud lurning, and a lot of people would question its use in modern
society. If Wizards have a better way to orient themselves to the adult,
working world than spending 4 years hiding from it in a glorified summer
camp (yes, I'm a recent grad - cum laude, dean's list - who can't find a
job), power to them.

Aura

~*~
Well that's a horse of a different color.
Fanfic and original stuff at www.homepage-host.uni.cc/w/ofnone  

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