How do Hogwarts' muggle-borns drop off the radar?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 127826


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shunra Shunrata"
<shunrata at g...> wrote:

> Shunra:
> 
> I've often wondered about a related question - how do the Muggle 
> families themselves go about explaining their children's whereabouts 
> to friends and family? ... Don't her proud grandparents want to know 
> if there's going to be another professional in the family? Don't her 
> old school friends want to keep in 
> touch? 
> 
> Shunra

bboyminn:

I think the most obvious answer is that this is an 'off-page' issue
that's unrelated to the core story, and therefore, we aren't meant to
think about.

Even if that is true, to maintain the continuity of this fictional
world this is still a very valid question.

I suspect Hermione's parents simply say that there daughter is going
to a very small, very exclusive, very private, and very specialized
school in Northern Scotland. What the school is called creates another
problem. I can't believe they could engage in even light conversations
about the subject with out people asking the name of the school. There
are many schools, like Eaton, that are very prestigious schools, and I
just don't see the school name as a question that would go unasked or
one whose answer could be avoided indefinitely. So, I suspect they
either make up a name or use Hogwarts name just for consistency. 

As to Hermione's friends, while still a valid question, I don't get
the impression that Hermione (bossy know-it-all) had many real close
friends. Plus at age 11 (at least in the books) all student break away
from their old friends and go off to different schools. Reasonably,
like Dudley and his friends, some would indeed end up at the same
school, but many would part ways at that time.

I suspect when Hermione is asked by her friends what she is studying,
she would likely say something like History, and launching into some
dry boring description of medieval history at which time her friend's
eyes would glaze over, and as quickly as possible they would change
the subject to something important like which boy band has the cutiest
lead singer.

Certainly, there are common ordinary aspects of wizard school life
that could be discussed with muggle friends. I think part of the
appeal to the reader as to what happens at Hogwarts is that it is so
universally common and familiar. She could talk about her friends
(like Ginny), and who's dating who, who likes who, and who doesn't
like who. who's hot-who's not.

I do agree, to some extent, with someone else's suggestion that the
easiest way for Hogwarts and the wizard world to deal with the problem
is to create a fake muggle front school. I'm not sure if Standardized
test are truly required, or if schools simply have to establish that
kids have an acceptable level of literacy. 

I suspect O-Levels and A-Levels are controlled by an independant
testing authority who administers the test, but what about earlier
basic skills test? Are they administered by the school, or does an
independant test authority come to the school to administer them?

USA doesn't have government mandated standardized testing, but when I
was in school we did have basic skills test; specifically the Iowa
Basic Skills Test (even though I was in Minnesota). An independant
organization collected, score, cataloged, correlated, and documented
the results of the test, but the test themselves were given/supervised
by teachers in our local school.

As a side note, in the areas of the USA where states do have
standardized testing, while the students are tested, it's actually the
school that is being graded. The tests are to make sure that the
schools are meeting a minimum standard of education. So, in the USA
these standardized tests aren't part of a students 'qualifications'.

I wonder if anyone here who has been a member of the school systems in
England or Scotland as a teacher or administrator could comment on
this? Are the government mandated standardized tests absolutely
required, or can independant schools create their own standards and
documentation of skills? Can private independant schools choose to
opt-out of standardized testing? Logically most hiring businesses
would want to see the standardized tests, but does law absolutely
require students to take them? Could a student skip O-Level and
A-Level tests altogether and attempt to make there way in the world
based on obvious intelligence and literacy combined with demonstrated
skills? Would the fact that the school is in Scotland have a bearing
on this issue?

I'm curious because knowing this would help me invent the best
possible means by which Hogwarts could overcome the problem under
discussion.

Just trying to figure it out.

Steve/bboyminn