Enrollment at Hogwarts Was: Battle/Cloak/Apparate/Dobby/TMR/Virus/Shun/Bogg

[anne_t_squires]

No: HPFGUIDX 168484


> 
> Geoff wrote:
> > > I have a suspicion that you may be viewing this from a US point of
> > > view. JKR has based Hogwarts on a British style public school. Most
> > > schools of this type would probably have a school roll in the 500-
> > > 800 range; just maybe up to 1000. You wouldn't get ANY UK
> > > school with an enrolment anywhere near 3000.
> 
> A.N.Other 
> > How many are in castles this size?
> > 
> > I can buy that the founders never imagined there'd be so many. But if
> > they're not hurting for space why would they build another one or
> > whatever when there's just been the one for a millennium?
> > 
> > I don't see any reason to think there aren't 1000 students at
hogwarts.
> 
> Geoff:
> True, but contrarywise there is no reason to think that there 
> /are/ 1000 students.

Snip
> 
> My other argument is that, nowhere in canon as far as I can see, 
> does JKR provide enough staff for a school that size.
> 
> When I first started teaching, I was in a school of 400 boys in 
> South London. Half my timetable was Science - the other half 
> being Maths - and there was a full-time Science teacher as well.
> So we needed one and a half staff to cover all the Science for just 
> 400.
> 
> Take as an example, Snape. It appears that he is the only Potions 
> teacher; there is no mention of him sharing classes or a classroom 
> with anyone else. I get an impression that Potions lessons only held 
> 20-25 students. To cover a student body of 1000 would need about 
> 40 lessons in a week. But potions lessons appear to be double 
> periods so does our Professor work night shifts as well? And no 
> marking periods?


Snip again 

Now Anne Squires who chimes in (because I know a bit about this issue):

I teach at a high school in the United States.  I feel that my school
is fairly typical.  We have an enrollment of 1200, so a little bit
higher than the 1000 enrollment being discussed. In order to
accommodate this number of students we have seven administrators (one
principal, one vocational director, one athletic director, one
registrar, and three vice principals), three counselors, three media
specialists, and eighty-six teachers.  We also have a resource
officer. (I guess he would be analogous to Filch. Hmm, I had not
thought of that before now. However, he doesn't work for the school
system; he works for the city police department.) Grand total = 100.
Canon does not come anywhere close to indicating that there are this
many staff members at Hogwarts.  I cannot imagine this number of
people seated at one  head table at the end of a great hall---seated
on only one side of that table mind you.  Which brings me to my next
point----  We have four lunches because the entire student body cannot
fit into the cafeteria at once. BTW, IMHO our cafeteria is rather
large.  It can hold over three hundred and fifty people at once.

Class sizes vary; but I'd say that twenty-five students per class per
block is average.  Many teachers teach an extended day contract which
means they do not have a planning period. And it still takes
eighty-six people to teach the students. Going back to the Snape
example--  I get the impression from canon that he teaches everyone in
years 1-5.  In addition to this, he also has some NEWT students.  Even
taking into consideration that Hogwarts students do not attend every
class each day, this would just be impossible from a logistical
standpoint, IMHO, if there are 1000 students.  

The number of staff at Hogwarts simply could not accommodate 1000
students.  I realize that there are unnamed staff members.  But where
do they all sit at meal times?  I know some, like Trelawny, do not
always eat in The Great Hall.  However, Trelawny seems to be the
exception, not the rule.

Anne