Basic Education

[Rebecca Dreiling]

No: HPFGUIDX 148767

Rebecca wrote:
> If most wizarding children don't start school until they enter
> Hogwarts where do they learn to read and write?  

Pippin replied:
>JKR's website FAQ says  that wizard children are mostly home-schooled
>before they go to Hogwarts. I suppose that in the case of less enlightened
>headmasters than Dumbledore and less important students than Harry,
>no great effort was made to follow up on students who didn't respond
>to Hogwarts letters. That would self-select for literate students, magic
>or Muggle. I'd guess that far fewer Muggle students made it
>to Hogwarts in the days before literacy became common in the Muggle
>world, which would put some developing social and economic pressure
>behind the purebloods' support of Voldemort's radicalism.


Rebecca:

I would wonder, with all the home schooling, if a lot of students were not 
very literate.  Not every parent is going to be a good teacher.

I suppose this would also set apart pure-blood families too.  Families like 
the Malfoys could afford to pay a tutor and work within the wizarding world 
full time if need be.

However, families like the Weasleys would not be able to afford a tutor.  
Maybe this is part of the reason Molly stays at home?

It seems being literate and being able to write a good story are not 
priorities at Hogwarts.  What happens to the witch or wizard who really 
wants to be a writer?  I guess we'd have to ask Rita Skeeter.