an 8th year???

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 174956

---  "Lisa" <sassymomofthree at ...> wrote:
>
> --- "greendayisawesome" <greendayisawesome@> wrote:
> >
> > I  was just thinking, will Harry, Ron and Hermione
> > need to return for their last year at Hogwarts? I 
> > mean, in their 7th year, they never attended 
> > classes. 
> > 
> > I guess I don't want the series to end and I am 
> > grasping at straws or looking for any loophole I 
> > can :o)
> > 
> > Sally Brown
> >
> Lisa:
> 
> I wish.  ;0)  However, I think Harry and friends 
> pretty much don't need anymore Hogwarts education --
> they've LIVED it.
> 
> Lisa
>


bboyminn:

This seems as good a place to jump in as any. First,
in the UK, it is not the school that certifies your
qualifications. In other words, no High School
Diploma. Students take the OWLs and NEWTs and that
is the only standards of Qualifications necessary.
For Muggles, that would be GCSE and A-Levels.

There is no reason why you can't take NEWTs, or
A-Levels to us muggles, without actually taking
the class. For example, we saw how Hermione, an
extremely intelligent girl, struggle with her
large class load. Yet, Percy managed to pass
every available subject in his qualification
tests. It seem the only way he could, is to have
taken test for classes he didn't actually take.
I believe you can do that with the real GCSE and
A-Level tests. It's not about taking the class,
it's about passing the test.

Further, how many of you know kids in high school
who are taking classes at the local college? It is
actually pretty common in the USA. Kids finish
out high school by taking classes at the local
college, that lets them finish their high school
qualification and get a head start on college. 

To those not in the USA, keep in mind there are no
qualifying tests here. Each individual school 
certifies that a student has achieved a certain
level of knowledge. 

Now, Auror's School is an additional three years.
I seriously doubt that Ron and Harry went strait
from Hogwarts to full fledged Aurors. They would 
have still had to go through the training. 

That, in my view, is the equivalent of a student
finishing High School by taking college classes.
Ron and Harry gained the knowledge they needed in
Auror's school.

As to Hermione, is there anyone here who doubts that
she could breeze her way through the NEWT tests? 

As to the other students, I think it was each to 
his (or her) own. They could choose to take the
OWL/NEWT tests, or they could choose to repeat a
year, or they could simply choose, as Fred and 
George did, to go out into the world and get on
with their lives. 

It really is not a 'one size fits all' solution.

Steve/bboyminn