Right. C&P of some posts I made to a HP discussion list I'm on, regarding the whole Muggleborn brainwashing thing:
I can't remember if we've brought this up on-list before, or if this was just in private e-mail, but it seems to me that Muggleborns really sort of get the short end of the stick in the Hogwarts school system. Take, for example, Hermione. At the age of eleven, she was told she was a witch, and went off to Hogwarts. Since then, she's only studied magic, which means she's missed six years of maths, various sciences, English, plus possibly French or other languages.
What if she, or any of the other Muggleborns, wanted to go to university? For that matter, what if any pureblood witch or wizard wanted to go to university? And I don't think that *not* letting one's child go to Hogwarts is an option, because untrained wizards are a liability, what with the spontaneous magic.
So basically, being a Muggleborn witch or wizard means that not only are you sent away from your family for most of the year from the time you're eleven, but you're also almost irrevocably bound to the wizarding world, because you're used to using magic all the time, you're disconnected from the Muggle world, I should think, after spending ten months out of a year immersed in the wizarding world, and you've pretty much no choice but to get a job (and thus, build up a life) in the wizarding world, because you don't have the education necessary in the Muggle world.
I suspect that, conciously or not, this system is kept in place in part to almost assimilate Muggleborns into the wizarding world, and thus to keep the wizarding world very much seperate from the Muggle one. This is also evident, for example, in the fact that the Weasleys live relatively near a Muggle town, but don't ever seem to have wandered into it (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas-b-burrow.html), despite Mr Weasley's supposed interest in All Things Muggle.
And quite frankly, I don't know how happy I'd be to send any of my hypothetical children to Hogwarts. I mean, what sort of teacher sents four *eleven-year old children* out into a forest they've previously declared incredibly dangerous? And why didn't *any* of the parents protest Umbridge's decrees, or even her corporal punishment of students?
Not to mention that Snape fellow, whom I personally would've liked to have for a teacher, except for that nasty habit he has of putting people down as persons for not being good at Potions. I mean, seriously, people, considering that there only appear to be about a dozen teaching posts at Hogwarts (and thus in the UK and Ireland), one would think they'd be able to get a teacher who actually, you know, *likes* *teaching*. (And doesn't carry a rather childish grudge against the son of the bloke who bullied him in school, but that's another rant for another time.)
Seriously, what sane person would even consider sending their child to this school?
(Second post, responding to people ...)
My impression is that there's a lot of measures in place that stop Muggleborns from hanging onto their ... well, their heritage, for lack of a better word. Electronics don't work on Hogwarts Grounds [1], so TVs, computers, radios, even walkmans are right out. The only way they have to keep up with what's happening in the Muggle world would be for their parents to owl (or maybe mail, but there's no canon mention of the Royal Mail delivering to Hogwarts in any way) them newspapers.
And even if they manage to keep up with current events, what about pop culture? Even if they're not the type to actually go along with pop culture, being (kept) completely ignorant about it is another thing entirely. For ten months a year (nine if you also discount Christmas and Easter holidays), they're effectively in another world, wearing Hogwarts robes during the school hours, and likely also outside them, because why bother changing into Muggle clothes that will make them stand out even more from their pureblood schoolmates?
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Re: Feedback, at last...
I can't remember if we've brought this up on-list before, or if this was
just in private e-mail, but it seems to me that Muggleborns really sort of
get the short end of the stick in the Hogwarts school system. Take, for
example, Hermione. At the age of eleven, she was told she was a witch, and
went off to Hogwarts. Since then, she's only studied magic, which means
she's missed six years of maths, various sciences, English, plus possibly
French or other languages.
What if she, or any of the other Muggleborns, wanted to go to university?
For that matter, what if any pureblood witch or wizard wanted to go to
university? And I don't think that *not* letting one's child go to Hogwarts
is an option, because untrained wizards are a liability, what with the
spontaneous magic.
So basically, being a Muggleborn witch or wizard means that not only are you
sent away from your family for most of the year from the time you're eleven,
but you're also almost irrevocably bound to the wizarding world, because
you're used to using magic all the time, you're disconnected from the Muggle
world, I should think, after spending ten months out of a year immersed in
the wizarding world, and you've pretty much no choice but to get a job (and
thus, build up a life) in the wizarding world, because you don't have the
education necessary in the Muggle world.
I suspect that, conciously or not, this system is kept in place in part to
almost assimilate Muggleborns into the wizarding world, and thus to keep the
wizarding world very much seperate from the Muggle one. This is also
evident, for example, in the fact that the Weasleys live relatively near a
Muggle town, but don't ever seem to have wandered into it
(http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas-b-burrow.html), despite Mr Weasley's
supposed interest in All Things Muggle.
And quite frankly, I don't know how happy I'd be to send any of my
hypothetical children to Hogwarts. I mean, what sort of teacher sents four
*eleven-year old children* out into a forest they've previously declared
incredibly dangerous? And why didn't *any* of the parents protest Umbridge's
decrees, or even her corporal punishment of students?
Not to mention that Snape fellow, whom I personally would've liked to have
for a teacher, except for that nasty habit he has of putting people down as
persons for not being good at Potions. I mean, seriously, people,
considering that there only appear to be about a dozen teaching posts at
Hogwarts (and thus in the UK and Ireland), one would think they'd be able to
get a teacher who actually, you know, *likes* *teaching*. (And doesn't carry
a rather childish grudge against the son of the bloke who bullied him in
school, but that's another rant for another time.)
Seriously, what sane person would even consider sending their child to this
school?
(Second post, responding to people ...)
My impression is that there's a lot of measures in place that stop
Muggleborns from hanging onto their ... well, their heritage, for
lack of a better word. Electronics don't work on Hogwarts Grounds
[1], so TVs, computers, radios, even walkmans are right out. The only
way they have to keep up with what's happening in the Muggle world
would be for their parents to owl (or maybe mail, but there's no
canon mention of the Royal Mail delivering to Hogwarts in any way)
them newspapers.
And even if they manage to keep up with current events, what about
pop culture? Even if they're not the type to actually go along with
pop culture, being (kept) completely ignorant about it is another
thing entirely. For ten months a year (nine if you also discount
Christmas and Easter holidays), they're effectively in another world,
wearing Hogwarts robes during the school hours, and likely also
outside them, because why bother changing into Muggle clothes that
will make them stand out even more from their pureblood schoolmates?
(cont'd)