On first glance, I would enjoyed the place. After all, you get to learn magic (pretty awesome) in a castle (even more awesome) and maybe even play quidditch (far more awesome). However, as I thought about it, I realized that it's more mixed:
- The sorting hat: Yeah, we have one of those, too. Ours is named Policy and it divides students according to special education, ELL, honors and gifted. And yet, there is an element of student choice here and the sorting hat at least respects each child's identity.
- The teachers: Ever read the book? We have one teacher with no real content knowledge who tells a child that he's going to die. We have another teacher who, after a child passes out, says, "Let him stay there" and continues her lesson. McGonagall and Snape routinely mock the nerdiest, most socially awkward kid. And yet . . . Professor Sprout mentors Longbottom and Professor Lupin mentors Harry at a key time in his life.
- The headmaster: Again, this feels mixed. He is bold in his protective love of his students. He fights to keep things relevant. However, he is also aloof and often missing at key moments.
- The curriculum: Here, I am often impressed by the hands-on learning and deep discussions they have, only to remember that their history teacher puts the class to sleep and the professors assign insane amounts of homework with the goal being passing a test.
- The castle: Amazing for the ambience and excellent for creating learning environments. Then again, it is drafty, cold and the staircases shift often. In fact, safety is such an issue there that they have to keep a full-time hospital wing.
So, would I want to attend there?
You bet.
Would I want my own children attending Hogwarts?
I'm not so sure.
This assumes we're referring to Hogwarts in the pre-Umbridge years.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post, John. It appears that much of the learning is designed to be hands on, but on the whole it's a bit of a mixed bag, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou absolutely have to read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - a free fanfic available via web or epub or whatever.
ReplyDeleteAn alternate Harry who bumps heads with the Hogwarts and magic cultures regularly and explicitly.
The best thing I've read in years.
http://hpmor.com/
Love the administrator missing at key moments. It often is the case unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteFun!
ReplyDeleteI agree it is a mixed bag. I would argue however that Dumbledore's absences are typically calculated and used as catalysts for empowerment.
I think the biggest question raised by Hogwarts is why does the majority of the relevant learning happening when the students are outside of the class? And, is that a good thing? Should we be raising up students who confront the world and things that are impacting it on their own when they leave us?
Perhaps Hogwarts is less fantasy and more realistic look at the complexities and problems that face our real public school system?
A couple of things you forgot, John -
ReplyDelete- A substandard custodial staff ... have you noticed how dirty the school always seems to be? Cobwebs, dust, bones, old furniture ... nothing ever seems to get cleaned.
- A capricious and arbitrary discipline system wherein points are taken and given according to the whims of the teaching staff and headmaster (Way to go Longbottom)
- A sports program that is clearly lacking in concussion awareness or saftey
- All staff are armed and actively defend the school (sorry for starting another debate but I'm on record as being for a small cadre of school staff being trained and armed - we give airline pilots access to training and weapons but not school personnel, something wrong with that).
Also, they have those pesky standardized OWLs and NEWTs, and judging from Book 5, there's plenty of teaching to the test.
ReplyDelete