Forbidden Education

[samwise_the_grey]

No: HPFGUIDX 140876

Something has occured to me and I don't think it's been brought up 
before. If it has I apologize.

Concerning the right to a wizarding education in Britian we see a few 
marginalized groups--werewolves, goblins, and most likely giants, 
centaurs, and elves--are forbidden to pursue studies of this nature. 
And it's stated in one of the books, I believe, that goblins cannot 
even own a wand much less use it. 

So what do marginalized people do when the Public Majority tells them 
they can not learn? They go and DO IT ANYWAY!

Do all werewolves want to live in destitution? Nope.
Do at least some Squibs want to try anyway? Yep.
Do all goblins want a career in banking? Probably not.
Do all house eleves want to cook and clean for a bunch of ingrates?
Okay, yeah, but they must learn how to do their own kind of magic 
from older eleves. You can't levitate cakes by just instinctively 
knowing.  

What if there are underground schools in the WW? What's to keep the 
goblins from learning magic, as they are clearly magical beings, from 
using all their financial resources to fund an educational system in 
secret? Considering the mysterious, almost goblin exclusive nature of 
Gringotts--with it's extensive system of underground vaults--it 
shouldn't be hard to find a suitable place to do it. The only problem 
is that they have to have already educated goblins and/or sympathetic 
wizards to teach them. Everything else can be bought, whether it's 
school supplies or someone looking the other way.

This also brings Lupin in mind and the fact that he has 'Prof R. J. 
Lupin' written on his bag in peeling letters. Now it could be said 
that this title is a recent addition but I don't think so. It seems 
too used to be anything else. He states in POA that he hasn't found 
PAID WORK, not that has never had a job. It's entirely possible that 
Lupin has been teaching elsewhere on a volenteer basis. Honestly, can 
we really believe Lupin has been sitting on his thumbs for those 
unaccounted 12 years? That he doesn't care about other werewolves at 
all? He's shown he's willing to do a thankless job because it needs 
to be done and if someone should ask him him to teach them I don't 
see Lupin saying no. 

As has been brought up before in other posts he may very well be 
teaching werewolves now as a way to get close to Fenrir Greyback and 
his followers. It's pure speculation but within the realm of 
possiblity. Lupin has a sort of notority for being a teacher at 
Hogwarts and at least some people (*cough*Umbridge*cough*) haven't 
forgotten it years after the fact. Even if this could backfire on the 
Order it doesn't mean the DE!Werewolves can't find other ways to hurt 
people. Wands aren't the only weapons in HP and should they find a 
non-destructive way to survive and rebel against their persecutors 
all the better. 

And really, that's the appeal. People WANT to learn despite the 
danger. Jews educated themselves in the ghettos. Not only because 
they wanted knowledge but because it was a way to quietly rebel 
against the Nazis and gave them a sense of normalacy. Kids go to 
school, therefore I will go to school because I'm a kid. They saved 
themselves psychologically.  

For a more recent example the ALA educated women and girls in 
Afganistan under the deadly threat of the Taliban. They do this 
because it empowers them. The desire to learn can be just as powerful 
as the desire to live. 

Free you mind and the rest will follow. :)