[HPforGrownups] Slugghorn favoritism WAS Re: Snape as Neville's teacher

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 168525

From: justcarol67 <justcarol67 at yahoo.com>
>As for marks, are you sure that a student's marks in a particular
>class have any bearing on his future career (as opposed to taking the
>next year's class as opposed to repeating the same class)? It's the
>OWL scores that determine whether a student can take a NEWT class in a
>particular subject and NEWT scores which, as I understnad it,
>determine career choice and whether a wizard is fully qualified. (I
>wish JKR would clear that one up, but we know that Draco isn't fully
>qualified yet and neither are Fred and George despite being of age, so
>I think that's determined by NEWTs.)

Bart:
There are certain specific careers for which one needs NEWTS to be qualified. But there seem to be plenty that don't. I mean, how many NEWT's do you think Rosmerta has? Or Dung? Or Stanny? Or Mr. Olivander? However, note how closely the government controls careers. I suspect that, if Fred & George weren't running a joke shop and the Ministry wasn't so incompetent, the Ministry would have taken over by now, putting properly "qualified" people in charge, while giving F&G desk duty. Hagrid, who I think knows a lot more than he pretends to know, could be very useful creating new magical creatures, but can't do it openly, because he doesn't have the right NEWTS (sort of how Chuck Yeager couldn't become an astronaut because he didn't have a college degree). 

Bart