Identifying with Muggles in Potterverse WAS: Re: DD at th...

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 158212

> >>Ken:
> <major snippage>
> It would take forever to describe how my relatively small formal   
> humanities education has enhanced my personal and professional    
> life. My basic childhood education gave me the itch to learn more 
> as an adult. That itch must be implanted at Hogwarts.
> That is why the young wizards and witches at Hogwarts are in no   
> less need of a cultural education. The Muggleborn need to know    
> about the culture they are entering. Those who've been in the WW  
> from birth need to understand the Muggle culture they hide from.  
> Our heritage is their heritage. Aristotle enlightens them as much 
> as us.

Betsy Hp:
I've loved every single thing you've written, Ken.  And I agree with 
it totally.  As a total Humanities girl, I feel I should also point 
out how important my exposure to the Sciences were.  Each discipline 
introduces you to a different way of thinking, of problem solving.  
It's cool to dive into one particular discipline, but I think it's 
important to have some sort of exposure to as many disciplines as 
possible.

Hogwarts, unfortunately, concentrates pretty solely on the 
pragmatic.  Which has its place, of course.  But it cannot replace 
the Humanities. Or the Sciences for that matter.  (Harry doesn't 
take a single math type class.  That's just as horrifying as the 
lack of literature, art and music, IMO.)

I wonder if it has to do with when the WW went into hiding.  Did 
they hide before the Renaissance?  It would go along way towards 
explaining the darkness of their world.

> >>Ken:
> Some aruge that the WW is too small to make a large cultural      
> contribution, does that not argue all the more for embracing the   
> common human cultural heritage?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Exactly.  That's the saddest thing, to my mind.  That these solid 
English families have no idea about Shakespeare, for example.  Have 
no clue about the many contributions their nation has made to the 
world.  And they don't have the equivilant.  (Honestly, how could 
they?)  Certainly, *they* don't know what they're missing, but it 
makes me sad for them.

> >>Ken:
> I reject the arguments that Hogwarts teaches these things and we   
> just don't see it. Come on, we've seen Minerva go over Harry's    
> schedule exhaustively several times, we've seen his OWL's, we've   
> heard him moan and groan about every class he's had to take and we 
> have never seen any sign of a humanities class anywhere.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Obviously there are limits when one is world building.  You can't 
include *everything*.  But JKR could have given hints.  Mention a 
glee club, have Dean excited about his art class.  It would only 
take a sentence or two to hint to a broader cultural world within 
the WW.  JKR doesn't do it.

Personally, I'll bet that some wizards (the braver sort) do wander 
into concert halls and Muggle museums. (I think JKR does hint about 
that.)  It's just too bad that they don't see this sort of thing as 
important enough to share with their children.

> >>Ken:
> They can't *all* marry Hermione Granger.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Except, Hermione is frozen at an eleven year old's level.  Well, 
knowing Hermione, maybe a fifteen year old's level.  She's been busy 
studying magical stuff and doing her best to ignore (it appears) the 
Muggle world.  It makes sense, this is her world now, and it's all 
very new and fascinating.  But it comes at a high cost.  Hermione 
will not be able to go home again.  Her Muggle relatives will think 
her sadly uneducated, and her cultural knowledge will be badly 
(especially for Hermione) limited.  

Betsy Hp