Mixing pre-teens and young adults in WW & RW was Re:School year system in the UK

[Marcelle]

No: HPFGUIDX 128882

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "festuco" <vuurdame at x> wrote:
> 
> > Tonks: (with snippage):
>>>Kids in what the US calls Jr. High (7 & 8) would pick up some 
>>>very bad ideas from kids in 9-12. And that(Jr.High) is the age 
>>>group that are most impressionable, so IMO they should be kept 
>>>seperate. 

Gerry replied:
> OK, big question mark here. Keeping age groups separate because 
>they might pick up bad ideas? So what happens at home? Need 
>siblings to be kept separate too? Should children not talk to their 
>older siblings friends? Or only with a parent there for fear of 
>contamination? 

celletiger now answers:
What you see as a weird custom is simply letting children be 
children and leaving *boring* adult matters to adults. 

The dynamics among siblings at home or even at school are much 
different than the influences of /peer/ pressure at school and on 
the playground, IMO.

I'm not talking about different ages mixing in structured, after 
school clubs, where there is a purpose to the gathering and an adult 
moderator.  My point is that the 17 year olds are sitting at the 
same relaxed lunch table right next to the 11 year olds, who are 
simply soaking up all the ridiculous teenage drama that the older 
kids have experienced  in a few short years.  Its not that I think 
the 7th years are hanging out with the 1st years teaching them how 
to smoke cigarettes and do tequila shots – to me it's the younger 
kids keeping their ears open from the corners of the common 
room, "learning" by hearing tidbits of teenage "wisdom."  IE: Parts 
of more advanced, potentially more dangerous magic.  Parts of 
hormonal encounters.  

IMHO, kids younger than 15 have plenty enough kid stuff to keep them 
occupied other than hormones.  JKR doesn't introduce dating as a 
concept for the main characters until GOF.  The only mention of 
teenage dating before that that I can remember is Percy and 
Penelope – when Percy was a sixth year (16 y.o.) in COS. 


Gerry continued:
>Should they be forbidden to watch TV programs with older children 
>in them? And why would children of 9-12 have bad ideas? Especially 
>the kind that cannot picked up from TV, books, newspapers or the 
>internet? I'm sorry to say, but to mee this seems a rather paranoid 
>view of children, motivated by fear and seeing the worst,instead of 
>a positive view that gives children role models in growing up.  
snip

to which celletiger answers:
Yes, but positive role models must be available.  My mother is my 
role model now, but believe me, when I was a teenager, I worshiped 
rock stars and the stupid older high school guys who could get 
beer.  Bad influences, certainly, but it wasnt cool to worship mom 
who said no alcohol when the cute football player was holding the 
tap.  Assume the same goes in the WW - if an older kid knows how to 
do certain magics - isn't there an allure for some younger kids to 
want to learn those secret/more advanced/dangerous/dark! magics?  

You bring up the influences of media and entertainment on children.  
This is what I'm talking about.  Especially BOOKS in the 
Potterverse.  There's a reason there is a restricted section in the 
Hogwarts library, where IIRC, only students taking a NEWT course may 
retrieve a specific book.  Sure, Hermione made polyjuice potion 
correctly, but look what happened to her.  

Also, IMO, there is some material presented in the entertainment 
venues as well as the general news media and internet that is 
inappropriate for pre-teens. There are some tv shows and movies I 
would never let a pre-teen see, as well as books and internet 
sites.  And I don't consider myself conservative.  It's a crazy 
world out there and I just think children's imaginations should be 
nurtured and not filled with some *adult* garbage.  After all, look 
what the /adults/ on this group are reading...

celletiger, who doesn't even have kids to be over-protective about