Oh, I don't think there's anything odd about Justin's parents sending him to Hogwarts instead of Eton. Wizards can control minds. And they don't want a kid accidentally doing magic in front of witnesses at one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Even if they don't break out the big magical mind-control guns, I think they could be very persuasive if Justin's parents had any hesitation.
But also, as Oryx says, Justin is in Harry's year. So if anything, he's an example of how there wasn't manipulation to lower the number of Muggle-borns that year. On the contrary, they probably made a strong effort to make sure he attended.
I don't know that Hermione's parents are anywhere near rich enough to afford a school on par with Eton (it couldn't be Eton regardless because Eton is boys only), and while I'm not fully versed in British class politics, I don't think dentists generally expect their children to go to such a prestigious school. They probably don't have generations of tradition of the family always going to whichever fancy school, the way a family named Finch-Fletchly might. And since they're dentists, Hermione probably wouldn't be the first in the family to go to a reasonably reputable school, so there's no "but the whole family's hopes depend on her!" pressure either. Whatever their plans were, Hermione getting into a fancy magic boarding school probably didn't disrupt them too much. (Except insofar as they probably didn't realize that their daughter learning magic would be quite so much like she'd joined a cult which expects members to cut ties with non-members as soon as possible, but that's another issue.)
It's too bad we don't know the usual rate at which pureblood family trees die out in the male line and then the rate they died out during the war to compare. (Admittedly it would be hard to work that into a novel gracefully.) We know that some family names died out years ago, like the Gaunts and apparently the Peverells. So, is the number of "last of the line" characters we see (which includes Barty Crouch Junior according to Dumbledore) unusually high? If so, how high? Or is it actually pretty expected given how many purebloods marry non-purebloods, how often families have only daughters, and how many of them might have fertility problems and so forth?
Looking at 'Muggle' statistics, live births in the UK in 1947 were 1,000,000. Between 1947 and 1955, numbers fluctuated at around the 750,000 mark, and then rose from 1956 onwards, peaking in 1964 at 1,000,000. Numbers then declined again, and from 1974-1987 remained under 750,000. If we expect the number of Muggleborns to be a reasonably constant percentage of Muggle births, then there would be fewer in Harry's year than in the Severus/Marauder generation.
In her first year, Hermione seems to be a child who doesn't easily fit into the social life of the dorm, and also has difficulties with classroom etiquette (waving her hand wildly while Snape is addressing questions to Harry alone). I suspect that she has been to a very small private school and her parents would then expect her either to stay at that school, move to a grammar school if she lives in an area which has them, or a private day school. We have friends who are doctors, who sent their daughters (same sort of age as Hermione) to a private school where there were only five or so girls in the class. In comparison, my daughter's co-ed class size(same sort of age) in a state primary with an excellent reputation was over 30.
That sounds like a good reason for natural class size variation. Much simpler, and no complicated manipulation required.
Thank you for the school information! That's really helpful. (Five is a really small class. I think my smallest-ever number of fellow students in a classroom was 9, as long as you don't count short-term elective classes.) Would the Grangers be likely to be really emotionally attached to the idea of Hermione attending whichever school they'd picked out, because of family tradition or prestige or other reasons? I'm imagining that their child being suddenly shunted into a world they didn't know existed to study subjects they didn't know existed would be a shock for anyone, and they might be disappointed that their child wouldn't be following the career path they'd expected, but would there be something beyond that in the nature of "but I don't care if this Hogwarts is a fancy boarding school and the best of its kind in the world, it's not [school they chose for Hermione]!"
There is normally a tradition of sending children (sons of course in the past) to public school, and Vernon/Dudley/Smeltings is a parody of that. Other than that, I think it would be less a matter of loyalty to a school than concern over what is being studied and what the child's future will be. Hermione's parents to seem to be reasonably onboard with her going to Hogwarts, and, although she says she had no idea she was magical, perhaps her parents have observed things that then make sense to them.
However, I agree with what you say above, that there is some magical coercion of Muggle parents. While Hermione's parents might not feel loyalty to a particular school, as middle class professionals, they would expect to be attending parent teacher meetings, making sure that Hermione is doing her homework!, making sure she is being stretched academically, perhaps involved in the parent-teacher association. To have none of that is going to be a massive culture shock - much more than for Justin's parents, who would be sending him away as a matter of course. I wonder if Hermione's gradual drift from her parents - all those holidays when she doesn't go home or goes home for a minimal amount of time - are because her parents have been 'programmed' to be rather vague about her.
They start Hermione's second year by witnessing a fistfight in a wizarding bookshop, with one of the parties being the father of one of Hermione's best friends. That would probably worry a lot of parents--just how suitable is this new crowd their daughter is attached to? Are they dangerous? And if Hermione writes them regularly (which we don't know she does, but she might initially because it's the correct thing to do), her letters must have suddenly stopped with no explanation when she was Petrified. They might be able to write to Dumbledore (Petunia managed it) to ask, but did they get a response? And what was it? ("Everything's fine, she's just busy, honest...")
And yet we seem to hear less about the Grangers after this unsettling year, not more. That's pretty weird unless they were already unusually emotionally detached from their daughter. Or are afraid of her and prefer the distance. But they might not be, at least not yet, since what we do hear is them organizing nice family vacations--France, skiing. Like they're trying to make the most of the short time they have with her? Bribe her to like them more? Anyway, some kind of magical "fuzziness" making them less concerned about Hermione when she isn't directly in front of them (and then puzzlement when she's home at the distance which has "somehow" crept up on them, prompting the vacations) seems sadly plausible.
But also, as Oryx says, Justin is in Harry's year. So if anything, he's an example of how there wasn't manipulation to lower the number of Muggle-borns that year. On the contrary, they probably made a strong effort to make sure he attended.
I don't know that Hermione's parents are anywhere near rich enough to afford a school on par with Eton (it couldn't be Eton regardless because Eton is boys only), and while I'm not fully versed in British class politics, I don't think dentists generally expect their children to go to such a prestigious school. They probably don't have generations of tradition of the family always going to whichever fancy school, the way a family named Finch-Fletchly might. And since they're dentists, Hermione probably wouldn't be the first in the family to go to a reasonably reputable school, so there's no "but the whole family's hopes depend on her!" pressure either. Whatever their plans were, Hermione getting into a fancy magic boarding school probably didn't disrupt them too much. (Except insofar as they probably didn't realize that their daughter learning magic would be quite so much like she'd joined a cult which expects members to cut ties with non-members as soon as possible, but that's another issue.)
It's too bad we don't know the usual rate at which pureblood family trees die out in the male line and then the rate they died out during the war to compare. (Admittedly it would be hard to work that into a novel gracefully.) We know that some family names died out years ago, like the Gaunts and apparently the Peverells. So, is the number of "last of the line" characters we see (which includes Barty Crouch Junior according to Dumbledore) unusually high? If so, how high? Or is it actually pretty expected given how many purebloods marry non-purebloods, how often families have only daughters, and how many of them might have fertility problems and so forth?
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In her first year, Hermione seems to be a child who doesn't easily fit into the social life of the dorm, and also has difficulties with classroom etiquette (waving her hand wildly while Snape is addressing questions to Harry alone). I suspect that she has been to a very small private school and her parents would then expect her either to stay at that school, move to a grammar school if she lives in an area which has them, or a private day school. We have friends who are doctors, who sent their daughters (same sort of age as Hermione) to a private school where there were only five or so girls in the class. In comparison, my daughter's co-ed class size(same sort of age) in a state primary with an excellent reputation was over 30.
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Thank you for the school information! That's really helpful. (Five is a really small class. I think my smallest-ever number of fellow students in a classroom was 9, as long as you don't count short-term elective classes.) Would the Grangers be likely to be really emotionally attached to the idea of Hermione attending whichever school they'd picked out, because of family tradition or prestige or other reasons? I'm imagining that their child being suddenly shunted into a world they didn't know existed to study subjects they didn't know existed would be a shock for anyone, and they might be disappointed that their child wouldn't be following the career path they'd expected, but would there be something beyond that in the nature of "but I don't care if this Hogwarts is a fancy boarding school and the best of its kind in the world, it's not [school they chose for Hermione]!"
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However, I agree with what you say above, that there is some magical coercion of Muggle parents. While Hermione's parents might not feel loyalty to a particular school, as middle class professionals, they would expect to be attending parent teacher meetings, making sure that Hermione is doing her homework!, making sure she is being stretched academically, perhaps involved in the parent-teacher association. To have none of that is going to be a massive culture shock - much more than for Justin's parents, who would be sending him away as a matter of course. I wonder if Hermione's gradual drift from her parents - all those holidays when she doesn't go home or goes home for a minimal amount of time - are because her parents have been 'programmed' to be rather vague about her.
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And yet we seem to hear less about the Grangers after this unsettling year, not more. That's pretty weird unless they were already unusually emotionally detached from their daughter. Or are afraid of her and prefer the distance. But they might not be, at least not yet, since what we do hear is them organizing nice family vacations--France, skiing. Like they're trying to make the most of the short time they have with her? Bribe her to like them more? Anyway, some kind of magical "fuzziness" making them less concerned about Hermione when she isn't directly in front of them (and then puzzlement when she's home at the distance which has "somehow" crept up on them, prompting the vacations) seems sadly plausible.
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