(no subject)

[fan_eunice]

So here's a question that's randomly driving me nuts and I know the internet/fandom probably has theories. Witches and wizards set off to Hogwarts (or whatever their magic school in their country of origin) at the age of 11, yes?

Uh, where do they go to school before that? Muggle born kids obviously just go to regular schools. But what about kids from magical families? You'd need a basic grounding in reading/writing/math to do well in magic subjects. Are they homeschooled, do you think? Or are there magic elementary schools that we just don't hear about?

Comments

[copracat]

I have never thought about it before but my very first idea was homeschooling but not of the contemporary kind, I mean the kind where mummy and daddy hire you a governess and some tutors.

Doesn't fit the Weasleys, of course.

[fan_eunice]

Yeah, I'd buy that for families like the Malfoys or the Blacks...and I suspect that's how they'd handle the kids primary education even if there were other options anyway (wouldn't want them mixing with the riff raff). And, the Weasleys could probably go with a more contemporary version of homeschooling on account of Molly is a homemaker. But there also have to be more families like the Lovegoods or the Longbottoms where you've got a wizard kid being raised by a single parent/grandparent...especially in the wake of the first reign of Voldemort. Hrmmm.

[such_heights]

My theory was always tutoring/homeschooling - and given a lot of wizards seem to cluster in particular villages, maybe a bunch of kids went round to the same house sometimes if their parents couldn't/didn't want to teach them themselves. I kind of like the idea of Molly running a tiny wizard kid school out of her kitchen I have to say. :D

[fan_eunice]

I kind of like the idea of Molly running a tiny wizard kid school out of her kitchen I have to say.

Now I do TOO. That is an adorable head image.

[sapote]

I know that a lot of upper-class British children before the wars were educated at home by tutors until their teens, and since the Wizarding world really seems to want to believe that it's all nobility and no middle- or working-class people, I always assumed that this leads to a lot of Wizarding parents coping as best they can with homeschools or haphazardly-arranged village grammar schools (though Hogsmead is probably the only village that actually has a formal school). The fact that this would create an underclass of wizarding children who arrive at Hogwarts functionally illiterate while meanwhile the Muggleborn children have gone to conventional modern schools and can read and write and do math always seemed to me to be possibly a very rich source of tension between the two groups. (And an ample recruiting pool for the armies of poor Death Eater sympathizers we see in the movies, at least - misdirected populist sentiment being, historically, a great way to get a mob going).

Or maybe they just have a Litrium spell or something that fixes the whole thing at once. I've always thought the Wizarding world starts at a disadvantage because they have to spend their teen years learning to do things like open doors and turn on lights, things that Muggles can learn by age four or five.

[sapote]

/has maybe written a couple of pages of deeply distopian literature about this. LOVES A DYSTOPIA.

[fan_eunice]

And I love you for the food for thought I now have. Especially,

misdirected populist sentiment being, historically, a great way to get a mob going).

I can easily see Voldemort playing on that resentment. The books are interesting in the sense that because they are so specifically from Harry's POV, and his journey is primarily about the mystical/destiny based showdown coming, you don't really get a lot of insight into the greater political surroundings (outside what a teenage boy would find relevant to his life and through his perspective).

[gnattery]

I... would totally read this. Do you have any links?

[sapote]

Oh man, I never finished it, but this is making me want to get it back out. (SERIOUSLY do people show up at Hogwarts unable to read? And if there's a spell to handle that, what happens if they get hit by finite incantatum?)

[gnattery]

These are all extremely interesting questions to me! I mean, it's kind of touched on very lightly in the books, with a lot of adult wizards being unconcerned about "muggle things" which they really should understand even just to do their own jobs. But it's JKR, and it's Harry's perspective, so it's not like we'd ever get to see this in-depth. I don't read much fic, but I'd eat up anything about these topics.

[green]

I always thought homeschooling or tutors. I've read fics where there are magic dayschools for little kids, too.

[fan_eunice]

Homeschooling of a sort seems to be the going theory, though it raises all kinds of issues and problems. Magic dayschools sound kind of awesome. :)

[neotoma]

I've always thought they must have a tradition of dame schools -- a mother runs a small school out of her house because she might as well get some extra coin by teaching the neighborhood children to read and write along with her own.

But yes, I do think the Wizardborn kids come into Hogwarts with much poorer learning skills, just because Muggles have systematized education and actually work on pedagogical techniques.

[fan_eunice]

Yeah, just. I get that the focus of secondary education would be different by necessity...like, a traditional pre-med focus for a magical healer would be useless in comparison to learning solid wand work, the healing properties of magical plants/animals, advanced potion making and such. Most of the subjects seem to track in terms of providing young witches and wizards with a pretty well rounded education with tracks to more advanced study on wizard terms. But. But. You still need to know the same underpinnings as muggle kids to study any of that.

11 as the age magical studies begin actually makes a lot of sense to me, because because that's pretty much when educational needs would diverge...and obviously most wizarding families are managing their kids early educations just fine. I would just feel better about these entirely fictional people in their entirely fictional world with some indication of formalized primary education. Because whether or not Baby Wizard Johnny Can Read is obviously serious business. *facepalm*

[mollyamory]

HI.

I have no opinions on this, except that your excitement is cute. =D

Also, are you going to VVC???

[mollyamory]

Wait, you ARE going to VVC, because I saw you say so in another post. YAY. ME TOO! \o/ We bought plane tickets this week!

[fan_eunice]

OMG YAY!!! I have several years worth of hugs saved up for you!!

:D :D :D :D :D

[magic_at_mungos]

I think Word of God says that they were home schooled in some form.

My personal canon is that Muggle borns (such as Hermione) went through Muggle primary school like any other kid, half bloods who properly straddled the Muggle and Wizarding worlds did what the parents felt best (but usually ended up getting some Muggle education even if it was just infant school for the socialisation) and the Purebloods home schooled in some fashion. Mrs Weasley ran a little school from her home and people like Cedric and Luna also came. Families like the Malfoys or the Blacks got tutors in and they may have also taught in small groups if the children were similiar ages.