Primary and Secondary Schools

[Athena Appleton]

Hey, I'm from Texas and there's something I never really "got" from the books...
The way the school system works here is you have Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School or Junior High, and High School.
If Hogwarts and Smeltings are supposed to be secondary schools, can it be assumed that all kids (wizard and muggle alike) went to local primary schools?

[Scellanis]

well some of the wizards Don't seem to have, although they have all been taught the basics so I suppose some go to primary schools and some get private tutors maybe...or perhaps there are wizard primary schools that adult wizards send their kids to...cos I mean, the waesleys have a complete lack of knowledge about muggles so they cant have been to a muggle school...

[Athena Appleton]

this is what I have the hardest time dealing with with the HP books: life before Hogwarts... well, and the simple stuff...

like, are there wizard supermarkets? wizard shops that sell muggle clothes? is there special wizard undies?

[Scellanis]

lol, yes, very confusing...as for wizard shops and supermarckets...Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade seem to be the only places.

For clothes, well, they aren't very good at them are they, take the Quidditch World Cup for example...I bet there is a wizard shop somewhere that sells muggle clothing, either that or wizards do venture into muggle shops on rare occasions but must look daft when they do, Harry has seen wizards in muggle shops if you remember the first book.

Im not sure about wizard undies...they wear muggle clothes under their robes at the school but judging by the Quidditch world cup I get the impression some of them wouldnt bother...be like true Scots with their kilts I suppose.....

[Athena Appleton]

hahahaha...

well, Mrs. Weasley makes sweaters for her kids every Christmas... If they wear sweaters, it seems safe to presume that they wear jeans or slacks with them...

[Meg Boyd]

i like to believe that they all have small wizarding primary schools, kinda like how different ethnic groups in my area have their own school aside from the public norm (ie Hmong school, Amish school, ESL, Christian schools) and their they learn the academics as well as things that go with their culture. However not every body who is Hmong (or whatever) goes to a Hmong school and opts to go to the public norm. Perhaps this is the same as they have small private wizarding primary schools that feed into Hogwarts and such, but people can opt to go to a muggle school.

[Athena Appleton]

hey, that's an idea... but what about neville? it's certain his gran would have sent him to a wizarding primary school, but they didn't know for a long, long time if he was a wizard or a squib... *shrug* probably one of those things that we aren't supposed to question.

[Meg Boyd]

Well in all cases there is always the option of private tutors and homeschooling...perhaps Neville's gran taught him herself...as I can see Draco having a private tutor

[Athena Appleton]

there's a thought... hmmm... the weasley kids wouldn't have gone to private school or had a private tutor... but they definately didn't grow up around muggle kids... guess we're just to assume that most wizarding kids were taught at home in some form or another...

[Ferrus]

I´ve always assumed that a wizards parents teach them to write... of course, muggle borns go to muggle schools.

[Meg Boyd]

When I meant private school, i really didn't mean Private school like we here in the US think of it, I meant not the expensive private school but a non public school run by the wizard community (in a sense it is public to the wizards, but private as compared to the state run publics) but of course there is always homeschooling, which I can see some one very mothery like Molly doing. Since they seem to live secluded in a muggle village away from other wizards they probably were homeschooled. However wizards in large wizard populations (ie Hogsmeade, London...etc) probably have their own schools

[Athena Appleton]

oooooohhh... ok

[Devinci]

I always assumend that young wizard-lings were homeschooled. But I suppose sometimes we can assume too much.

I always wondered, do the kids have to know the same things we do? Do they study, algebra and history? I mean, sure the history of magic is important, but, do they know about Napoleon? And...the high renaissance??

Then again, I suppose they DO know about them...only in a different light....
This is confusing.

[Meg Boyd]

I wonder about this too...because do they really need algebra??? I mean that sort of math is for engineering and chemistry and pharamcy...I mean do they need to know science and math if they don't need its results?? But then I think sometimes those sort of classes make people think better and make them well rounded...hmmm...I wonder if the read Shakespeare

[Athena Appleton]

bet they read macbeth... (double, double, toil and trouble)... the movie hints that they read shakespeare with the "something wicked this way comes" bit... hmmm...