*spoiler* Do you think Hogwarts was ever like a TRADITIONAL British boarding school?

[XemaSab]

It would really explain a lot about Snape and Lucius. :evilgrin:

[supernova]

1. As I understand it

that's part of HP's appeal in Britain, its digs at boarding school life. Certainly some things about it ring true (just from my mom being a teacher)

- That one subject that can't seem to retain the same teacher from year to year (at Hogwart's its, of course Defense Against the Dark Arts)

- The gov't lackey who wants to change things too much, often at the expense of school congeniality (Delores Umbridge)

- The grownups that are popular with students, no matter what (Dumbledore, Hagrid)

[mitchum]

2. What? Where they get birched by pederasts?

probably

[XemaSab]

8. word

n/t

[Writer]

3. Has anyone in the lounge attended a traditional British boarding school?

Enough to know how to answer?

I mean, if you misbehave, will they connect you to the giant Spanking Machine?

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. I may well be the only one

In the early 1980s. However, I've never read the Harry Potter books, and have only seen a couple of the films, so I've no idea what Snape and Lucius did.

They banned corporal punishment at the school while I was there - it's now legally banned in the whole country. It was pretty rare, by then - I would say perhaps 1 in 5 in my year got it at some time (typically with a gym shoe). However, they had the good idea of banning it without actually announcing it to the pupils - so they could tell prospective parents that they'd left things like that behind, while we pupils had a year or so of thinking it was still there as the ultimate punishment.

As for 'fagging' - we had it in a mild form. There were a few jobs that had to be done, like taking round the milk and bread each day, which the boys in the lowest year had to do on a rota, and the prefects (senior boys and girls, who are 'reliable') could get them to deliver notes around the school that were part of official business. The nearest to fagging was the prefects had their studies swept, and their washing up done, each day by the first years, too.

[XemaSab]

7. Awesome!

:D

[Lisa]

4. making the new students work as servants to the older ones?

(A practice known as "fagging" in the UK, and now frowned upon at schools -- and outright banned at others, kind of like hazing is now viewed in North America. See Kipling's "Stalky and Co." stories for examples ... older kids could steal stuff and carry out physical abuse, and anybody who complained would be shunned by not only their peers, but the faculty as well! It was supposed to "toughen up" the students.)

In theory, with Hogwarts having house elves, it would not be necessary for the first-years to do chores ... but I can imagine the Slytherins enjoying it -- forcing the youngsters to perform totally-useless tasks, etc. And unfortunately, the younger Sirius Black and James Potter might have followed the same pattern without question -- though Lily would probably have objected.

[XemaSab]

5. That's exactly what I was thinking

It would explain why Snape is called Lucius's "lap dog" on at least one occasion.... and yeah, I get the feeling that the Slytherins would be all over it. :D