Educational Decrees Numbers 12 & 35
Yay for Pottermore! Apparently there's some gorgeous art there, which has generated pretty, non-movie related Harry Potter icons! At last!
And now for some serious business.
Ever since I started re-reading the Harry Potter-books again, something has been eating me: this is the first time I've read the books since I started studying at the university. Sad to say, this makes the reading a perfect example of how too much education can ruin a nice experience.
While the emotional and nostalgic me loves every page I read to pieces, the teacher-me can't help but being horrified at Hogwarts as a school. It took me a while to accept it, but frankly, it's a disaster. There seems to be no official curriculum or syllabi, instead the decision of what should be taught seems to rest with, at best, the headmaster, but more often the individual teachers. If there is no syllabus, there can be no criteria for the various grades, which makes the grading completely arbitary and therefore open to bias.
Even if the teachers are not biased, none of them appears to have had any special training in the profession and Dumbledore's appointment of them is, again, arbitary. In fact, he hires teachers because they're friends of his, because they can't get any work elsewhere, because he wants to keep an eye on them and their dubious alliances... basically for every other reason than because they are good teachers. Not counting the classes that are obviously useless or downright dangerous, pedagogy is virtually non-existing, as the standard approach seems to be "here are the instructions, now do it".
In fact, and this hurts to admit, Umbridge is more than right when suggesting a stricter controll and standardisation of the school. The fact that the Ministry has no influence whatsoever over the education of England's entire wizarding population is outrageous. If Dumbledore had actually been as mad and delluded as the Ministry thinks he is, it would have been a disaster. A whole generation would be ruined, because the government has no power to ensure them a proper education. While Umbridge's ideas are good, however, her execution of them is less so, as she has neither the competence nor the objectivity nessecary. Because what good is Ministry controll if the Ministry is corrupt, predjudiced and even racist?
Which leads me to my second complaint. Even if all the subjects at Hogwarts were taught perfectly, it would produce individuals who are excellent at everything having to do with magic, but otherwise unable to function in a productive way in a modern society. Without studying social sciences, how will they be able to have a well-functioning government? They'll have no knowledge of politics, economics, law or sociology. This is not only relevant for those actually employed within the government, but for everyone. For a democratic society to work, its citizens must have some basic knowledge of how it is run. Without studying foreign languages, how will they handle their international affairs? There's obviously no translation spell, giving the problems Fudge had with the Bulgarians at the Qudditch World Cup. (Granted, Hogwarts is in England, and English seems to be taught at Durmstrang and Beuxbaton at least). How will they be able to live side by side with the Muggles in a harmonious way when they know so frightenly little of them? There is no reason why Muggle Studies should not be compulsory for all non-muggleborn students. The same applies to all the other races that share the magical world, such as house elves, centaurs, giants, goblins etc. To have any hope of conquering the predjudies and enmity prevalent between them and the wizarding community, some sort of inter-race activity should be present in school.
Finally, I have to raise some objections to the animal experimentation that is constantly happening at Hogwarts. It is another expression of the wizards' general disdain for everything non-magical; they learn to care for magical creatures, whereas ordinary mice and kittens can be Vanished or Transformed at will. It is unethical and I'm actually surprised that at least Hermione has not objected to it.
All this said, my unconditional love for Harry Potter will conquer my intellect any day, and having written this and getting it out of my system, I think I'll be able to cram one of Uncle Vernon's old socks into the mouth of my teacher-me and hide it in a dark corner of the trunk of my mind whenever I open a Harry Potter-book.
(This actually hurt a bit.)
And now for some serious business.
Ever since I started re-reading the Harry Potter-books again, something has been eating me: this is the first time I've read the books since I started studying at the university. Sad to say, this makes the reading a perfect example of how too much education can ruin a nice experience.
While the emotional and nostalgic me loves every page I read to pieces, the teacher-me can't help but being horrified at Hogwarts as a school. It took me a while to accept it, but frankly, it's a disaster. There seems to be no official curriculum or syllabi, instead the decision of what should be taught seems to rest with, at best, the headmaster, but more often the individual teachers. If there is no syllabus, there can be no criteria for the various grades, which makes the grading completely arbitary and therefore open to bias.
Even if the teachers are not biased, none of them appears to have had any special training in the profession and Dumbledore's appointment of them is, again, arbitary. In fact, he hires teachers because they're friends of his, because they can't get any work elsewhere, because he wants to keep an eye on them and their dubious alliances... basically for every other reason than because they are good teachers. Not counting the classes that are obviously useless or downright dangerous, pedagogy is virtually non-existing, as the standard approach seems to be "here are the instructions, now do it".
In fact, and this hurts to admit, Umbridge is more than right when suggesting a stricter controll and standardisation of the school. The fact that the Ministry has no influence whatsoever over the education of England's entire wizarding population is outrageous. If Dumbledore had actually been as mad and delluded as the Ministry thinks he is, it would have been a disaster. A whole generation would be ruined, because the government has no power to ensure them a proper education. While Umbridge's ideas are good, however, her execution of them is less so, as she has neither the competence nor the objectivity nessecary. Because what good is Ministry controll if the Ministry is corrupt, predjudiced and even racist?
Which leads me to my second complaint. Even if all the subjects at Hogwarts were taught perfectly, it would produce individuals who are excellent at everything having to do with magic, but otherwise unable to function in a productive way in a modern society. Without studying social sciences, how will they be able to have a well-functioning government? They'll have no knowledge of politics, economics, law or sociology. This is not only relevant for those actually employed within the government, but for everyone. For a democratic society to work, its citizens must have some basic knowledge of how it is run. Without studying foreign languages, how will they handle their international affairs? There's obviously no translation spell, giving the problems Fudge had with the Bulgarians at the Qudditch World Cup. (Granted, Hogwarts is in England, and English seems to be taught at Durmstrang and Beuxbaton at least). How will they be able to live side by side with the Muggles in a harmonious way when they know so frightenly little of them? There is no reason why Muggle Studies should not be compulsory for all non-muggleborn students. The same applies to all the other races that share the magical world, such as house elves, centaurs, giants, goblins etc. To have any hope of conquering the predjudies and enmity prevalent between them and the wizarding community, some sort of inter-race activity should be present in school.
Finally, I have to raise some objections to the animal experimentation that is constantly happening at Hogwarts. It is another expression of the wizards' general disdain for everything non-magical; they learn to care for magical creatures, whereas ordinary mice and kittens can be Vanished or Transformed at will. It is unethical and I'm actually surprised that at least Hermione has not objected to it.
All this said, my unconditional love for Harry Potter will conquer my intellect any day, and having written this and getting it out of my system, I think I'll be able to cram one of Uncle Vernon's old socks into the mouth of my teacher-me and hide it in a dark corner of the trunk of my mind whenever I open a Harry Potter-book.
(This actually hurt a bit.)