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Chapter Text

As an aspiring educational consultant, who recently completed a master’s degree in education, I have decided a good way to use my education to goof off is to write an essay giving my professional opinions about Hogwarts. This combines my love of fan work with my passion for education. It also helps me work through my mixed feelings about the Harry Potter series, which I generally have always liked but over time have found a lot of issues with.
We will begin, in our first chapter, by analyzing the prescribed curriculum of Hogwarts, what is learned in each of the classes and what I believe are some things that should be improved upon. This will include discussion of materials used on these classes, content learned, and homework and exam requirements. We will then discuss the overall assessment practices, some of the issues surrounding standardized testing, and why I think students should have more options.
In the next chapter after that, I will then suggest subjects I believe are missing from the curriculum and are needed to prepare witches and wizards for life in the Wizarding world. I will describe in detail what I think should be taught in these classes. This part of the essay gets a PG-13 rating for Wizard Sex Ed.
The next chapter after that will analyze some of Hogwarts’ professors; their effectiveness at teaching, professional and ethical behaviour, attention to safety, and effectiveness at classroom management and discipline. We will give the teachers grades based on the OWL grading system.
Next we will discuss educational resources and extra-curricular activities, largely the lack thereof. We will analyze some things about Quiddicth in detail and suggest other extra-curricular activities that should be offered to meet the needs of various students. I will also look at what educational resources Hogwarts has available to students outside class time and suggest other resources that would be beneficial.
Finally we will discuss the hidden curriculum. This refers to what students learn besides the prescribed curriculum, what is implied to them by the way the school is run. This will include some uncomfortable discussion of what students learn from the house system, disciplinary methods, danger, separation from family, and inequality due to factors like wealth.

Chapter Text

Let us begin with some basic facts about Hogwarts curriculum. It is a seven year school. In years 1-5, students take seven core subjects; Astronomy, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, and History of Magic. In addition, first years take a course on broomstick flying. In years 3-5 students also take a minimum of two electives chosen from Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies. At the end of year five, students take standardized exams called OWLs. In years 6-7, students may continue taking subjects for which they received qualifying grades on their OWL exams. At the end of year seven, students take standardized exams called NEWTs. The grades students receive on their OWL and NEWT exams influence what job opportunities are available to them. Additionally, there is an optional course on Apparition, offered by the government for a fee, available to students who are at least 17 years of age or will be 17 by a certain date (usually taken by sixth year students). Students who complete the course may take an exam when they are 17 or older and earn an apparition licence if they pass. Let us take a closer look at each class.

Flying  

This is a required course for first year students, in which they learn how to fly on a magic broomstick. It uses school provided broomsticks, as first years are not allowed to have their own broomsticks on campus. It requires no textbook or other equipment as far as we are told. Witches and wizards use flying broomsticks for transportation sometimes, but mostly for recreation. Students coming into Hogwarts have varying degrees of experience with broomsticks. The ones who grew up in the wizard world, like Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, usually have prior experience. On the other hand some, like Neville Longbottom, grew up in the wizard world but his family did not allow him to use a broomstick prior to attending Hogwarts. There are also a sizeable number of students, like Hermione Granger, Dean Thomas, and Harry Potter, who grew up in the muggle world and never had an opportunity to fly on a broom before. If first years were allowed their own broomsticks on campus, with no prior training, it would likely result in a lot of accidents. Hogwarts likely did not want to be discriminatory by requiring a course only for muggle borns, besides some who are not muggle born lack prior experience or have been taught incorrectly, and so they chose to treat everyone equally and require all first years take a standard course on how to fly broomsticks safely, evening things out, before they are allowed to bring their own broomsticks on campus. There is no indication of the course having any impact on academic credits or job prospects, there seems to be no OWL or NEWT exam. I would expect, however, that first years are required to pass it before being allowed to have their own broomstick on campus. However, Harry Potter was allowed to bypass this rule and have his own broomstick on campus in his first year because Professor McGonagall decided to recruit him for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. This seems unfair to give a student special treatment for the sake of an extra-curricular competition, especially when it effectively rewarded him for breaching safety protocol and flying unsupervised. However, a counterpoint is that Potter had proven himself an exceptional flyer and not in need of further lessons before being allowed to have his own broomstick on campus. Sometimes in real life, students who are exceptional in a subject area are allowed to bypass certain requirements that they do not need. Still, Potter probably should have been disciplined in some way for breaking safety rules. In a school with dangerous classes, students need to take safety rules seriously. 

Now let us look at the content and methods of the flying course. Our information is limited because we only see one class in the book. Like most Hogwarts classes, flying uses practical lessons. Students begin by learning how to summon a broomstick to their hand. They probably can just pick them up but broomsticks seem to be somewhat sentient, able to choose whether to obey their user, so the purpose of learning to summon the broomstick seems to be to earn the broomstick’s trust. It seems one is supposed to form sort of a relationship with their broomstick. Students are then taught how to properly mount the broomstick, take off, and hover. I am not sure the first lesson should be practical. Perhaps it would be beneficial to have a few theoretical classes first to learn more about how flying works and safety considerations, similar to how driving courses generally include lectures before getting practice. 

It is unknown if there is an exam, but I speculate that there is a practical exam students must pass before being allowed to have their own broomsticks on campus (though this requirement was waived for Harry Potter when he proved himself exceptional at flying).

Accidents seem like a common occurrence in the flying class. Neville Longbottom’s broomstick took him into the air unwillingly during his first lesson, leading to an injured wrist. One would expect there to be protocol in place for this instead of the instructor then leaving a class full of about twenty students unsupervised with the broomsticks. Someone was bound to break safety rules and fly unsupervised. The instructor should have had an assistant or other adult staff member, maybe a prefect or other older student, nearby to take students to the hospital wing in the event of an accident. This could also apply to many other dangerous Hogwarts classes. 

Although it is not mentioned in the books, the Harry Potter Wiki says that flying is offered as an optional course in years 2-7 to students who are interested in learning and practicing flying skills (this information comes from sources such as video games, your mileage may vary on whether it is canon). Presumably, the first year course is sufficient to prepare students to safely and efficiently fly on broomsticks and subsequent years and just to improve one’s skills. If this is the case, it is a wonder Harry Potter does not seem to avail of these classes. Although he is exceptional at flying and did not need to complete the basic course, it never hurts to learn new techniques. Given Potter is on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, learning additional flying techniques would be very beneficial to him. 

Astronomy

Astronomy is one of Hogwarts’ core subjects required in years 1-5 and can be taken in years 6-7 by students who receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. It is a branch of science that concerns the study of outer space; planets, stars, and celestial objects. Despite the main character taking this class for five years, we are given very little information about it in the books. None of the Astronomy class periods are described in detail. It is unclear why the subject is taught at Hogwarts or how it is relevant to performing magic. 

There appears to be no textbook for this class, as none of the textbooks mentioned sound to be related to Astronomy. It is unusual for a course with a lot of theoretical content to not have a textbook but not unheard of; students likely study course notes and handouts rather than a textbook. Students are required to purchase a telescope for the course. It is unknown whether these are ordinary telescopes or ones with magical properties. It would be beneficial for telescopes used in class to have magical properties to allow students to see things ordinary telescopes do not and to be able to work in spite of cloudy weather. 

First year students take classes at night, once a week. Presumably, upper year students also take night classes on different days. With seven years, it is reasonable to assume each year of students take them on a different night of the week. These classes, like most Hogwarts classes, include a practical component. Students use their telescopes to study the night sky. Since there are inevitably days where cloudy weather inhibits the view of the stars, hopefully the telescopes have magical properties to bypass this and avoid having to reschedule. Students learn about the names and movements of planets, moons, stars, and constellations. In year five, Students learn about the properties of Jupiter’s moons throughout the years. It is unclear if classes are exclusively at night or if there are also classes during the day. The way I would organize the course would be to have day classes that cover content such as the properties of Jupiter’s moons, and the night classes be for practical components; similar to how university science courses have lectures as well as labs where practical learning takes place. The practical components of Astronomy include filling out star charts based on observing the night sky. The class includes homework assignments such as drawing star charts in year three, and essays about Jupiter’s moons in year five. We can extrapolate that there are also essays on properties of various other planets moons, stars, asteroids, meteors, and other celestial objects. Since our main characters do not take this subject after year five, we are given no information in the books about what is taught in years 6-7. The wiki, however, lists some topics allegedly taught those years, according to other sources. Some of these topics include meteor showers, cosmic ages, black holes, and rogue planets. 

Final exams take place at night and presumably include practical components. The OWL exam, like most OWL exams, includes two parts; theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is a written exam which includes identifying Jupiter’s moons. The practical part takes place at night and involves looking at the sky through a telescope and filling in a star chart with the precise positions of the stars and planets, as they presumably have practiced in class. Presumably, something about this star chart requires that they directly observe the stars and cannot simply be done from memory. Not much is known about the written part but if I were the one designing it, it would consist of some sections of “objectives” (such as multiple choice and fill in the blank) and some sections involving filling out diagrams and identifying objects such as constellations. The NEWT exam presumably has similar components to the OWL exam but different content. 

With the limited information given, I have little to critique about this subject. From what we know, it seems to be efficiently taught and the homework assignments and exam requirements make sense. 

Transfiguration

Transfiguration is one of seven core subjects required in years 1-5, with the option of continuing in years 6-7 for students who achieve the qualifying grade on their OWL exam. It is a branch of magic that concerns transformations; changing one thing into another. This form of magic is used in various careers in the Wizarding world; such as healing, law enforcement, and likely in creation of magical objects. It said that aurors, whose job it is to capture dark wizards, often need to transfigure or untransfigure their work. The implication seems to be they use it to cover their tracks. I suspect one of its uses is also to hide magic from muggles. 

Three different textbooks are used in transfiguration; A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration in years 1-2, Intermediate Transfiguration in years 3-5, and A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration in years 6-7 (NEWT level). Given the dangerous nature of the subject, it makes a lot of sense they do not want students reading too far ahead and attempting spells or techniques they are not prepared for. Ensuring the material taught to fifth years is not in the book first years are using is a good safeguard to minimize chances of keeners trying spells beyond their skill level. Of course such incidents probably still occur but the division of content over three textbooks makes it occur less frequently. In addition to textbooks, the course naturally also requires students use a wand. Items are provided for students to practice transforming them into other items. 

Like most Hogwarts courses, transfiguration is a practical course. Students spend class time practicing transfiguration. There is also a theoretical component where students hear lectures and take notes. In addition to practicing spells, students learn the theoretical concepts that explain how to successfully use transfiguration. This is useful, as understanding underlying principles likely aid them in performing the spells. Usually the teacher explains a new concept to students and then allows them to practice over the course of several classes before moving on to the next topic. The spells students learn over the years largely consist of turning one object into another, such as a matchstick into a needle or a beetle into a button. Many of these spells seem to be on little practical value. It could be that some of the seemingly impractical transformations, like turning a mouse into a snuffbox, are taught in order to form foundational knowledge of transfiguration in preparation for learning more advanced spells. Early years also cover how to undo transfiguration, which is an important safety measure for when students make mistakes in transfiguration and need to change things back. In addition to changing objects into other objects, some other spells covered in transfiguration include switching spells, which switch positions of two objects, and vanishing spells in year five. NEWT level classes (years 6-7)  include such spells as conjuring spells and Protean Charm, which enables transfiguring one object to also transfigure other objects in a set. This is handy method of discrete communication and presumably used by aurors in covert operations. NEWT years also include transfiguring oneself into things.

Students also learn about some topics in transfiguration that they do not directly practice. In year three, for instance, students are taught about animagi (witches or wizards who have mastered transforming into a certain animal at will). Since becoming an animagus is difficult and dangerous, students are not required to master this skill during their education. However, it is an option for students to study it in depth and work to become an animagus with guidance from teachers. Minerva McGonagall mastered this skill with guidance from Albus Dumbledore. There is no indication of whether this can be used for academic credit. It would make sense for it to be an optional independent project students can use to earn credit during NEWT years. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew became animagi illegally during their time at Hogwarts, and presumably taught themselves through research, without teacher supervision, showing this skill can be self-taught but this is advised against due to the dangers of it. 

In addition to classwork, students have to write essays for transfiguration on certain spells and other topics, like cross-species transfiguration. Each year students take final exams in Transfiguration. These exams seem to be mainly practical. In Harry Potter’s first year, students had to transfigure a mouse into a snuffbox. They earned points for how pretty the snuffbox was, indicating a level of skill required to make it pretty, and lost points if the transformation was incomplete. This one task seems to have been the entire exam. A single question exam is ideally a question that incorporates all of the skills learned throughout the year. There is insufficient information to determine if this is the case here. The exam Potter and his classmates took in year three is said to have included several tasks including turning a teapot into a tortoise, which most students did incompletely. The increase in the number of tasks is logical as the subject gets more advanced. There is a margin of error allowed, where students still pass even if they are not yet able to perfect certain spells. Skills are likely expected to improve the next year. The OWL exam, like most OWL exams, consists of both a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part included constructed response questions such as the definition of a switching spell (which is learned in year one, implying OWL exams are cumulative). The practical component includes performing spells such as the vanishing spell. In order to continue taking Transfiguration in years 6-7, students must receive a high grade on the OWL exam, more than just a pass. There is an intense increase in the workload in NEWT years. The NEWT exam presumably has similar components to the OWL exam but with different content. 

Overall transfiguration seems to be effectively taught. The progression of topics from easy to difficult seems logical. It is a little strange that the exams prior to the OWL seem to be purely practical while the OWL exam has a theoretical section. The final exams each year perhaps ought to have a written section where students explain the technique behind transfiguration and knowledge of topics like animagi, which cannot be covered by the practical exam. Having this each year would more efficiently prepare students for the theoretical section of the OWL exam. However, this may be sufficiently covered by out of class essays. Practical spells for the exams are also likely chosen based on which spells most demonstrate theoretical understanding of transfiguration. 

Charms

Charms is one of seven core classes students are required to take in years 1-5 and have the option of continuing in years 6-7 if they achieve the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. It is a class where students learn to cast a variety of spells. Many of these spells are useful in daily life, others seem to be more for fun. Knowledge of the subject is likely used in the creation of magical objects and new spells. The course is a prerequisite to some magical careers, such as healing. 

Naturally, this is one of the classes in which students are required to use a wand. There is also a required textbook for each year. The Standard Book of Spells is divided into seven books, one for each year. Like with transfiguration, I suspect this is a safeguard to reduce the instances of students attempting dangerous spells beyond their grade level. It is safer to avoid having instructions for fourth year spells in the book first years use. In addition to the primary textbooks, students are sometimes provided other books to read. In year four, for instance, students are given three books to read in preparation for the class on the summoning charm. Students are also provided items in class to practice spells on. 

Like Transfiguration, Charms is primarily a practical course. Students spend class time practicing spells. After being taught a new spell, students usually practice it over several classes before moving on to a new one. In year one, students begin by practicing wand movements techniques such as “swish and flick”. They then begin learning simple spells such as the levitation charm, which they practice on light objects like feathers before moving on to more difficult objects. They also likely learn theoretical concepts associated with how charms work, to aid them in performing the spells. Over the years students learn a variety of spells such as locking and unlocking doors, repairing objects, using their wand as a flashlight, summoning objects, banishing objects, making fire, and making people cheerful. During NEWT years (years 6-7), students learn advanced spells and techniques such as how to cast spells without using incantations. 

Not much is mentioned about homework in this subject. Students are probably expected to practice spells as homework. If it is like the majority of other subjects at Hogwarts, students probably also write essays on various charms. Final exams are usually primarily practical. In year one, Harry Potter and his classmates had to make a pineapple dance as part of the exam. In year three, they had to demonstrate spells such as the cheering charm. The OWL exam consists of both a written part and practical part. The written part involves essay questions such as describing how to perform various spells. If I were designing it, the written part would also include identifying what spells to use in certain circumstances. An essay on how you would use charms to resolve a given problem could have room for students to be creative and give a variety of correct answers. The questions we are told about seem to be more about simply regurgitating knowledge, whereas there is potential for Charms to test thinking of creative magical solutions to problems. The practical part of the OWL exam involves demonstrating various spells. Some of the spells tested on the OWL exam include levitation, which is learned in year one, and cheering, which is learned in year three, indicating the exam is cumulative, testing everything students learned over five years. 

Overall the course seems well structured, with things logically progressing from easy to difficult. I have no significant issues with it based on what we are told but I do think more emphasis on creative problem solving and when to use which spell would be beneficial. This could also apply to classes like Transfiguration. These things may already happen, we are just not told about them. 

Potions

Potions is one of seven core classes required in years 1-5 with the option of continuing in years 6-7 if students get the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. In this class, students learn how to make magical mixtures that have variety of uses. It is a prerequisite for careers such as aurors (dark wizard fighters) and healers. 

For this class, students are required to purchase a cauldron, brass scales (presumably for weighing ingredients), and phials (presumably of holding potions and ingredients). They also use mortars and pestles for crushing some ingredients, I assume these are provided since they are not mentioned in the shopping list. Although not specifically mentioned in the shopping list, the third book mentions Harry Potter restocking on some potion ingredients while shopping for school supplies. It seems some ingredients students purchase themselves while others are provided in class. The books say that wands are not used in this class but it seems Rowling said later that wands are used in potion making, which seems like a retcon to explain why muggles cannot brew potions. It is also prudent to have a wand to fix problems caused by potions improperly brewed. The class uses the book One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, which Professor Snape asks questions about on the first day, as well as Magical Drafts and Potions. In NEWT years, the class uses the book Advanced Potion-Making. The implication is that One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi serves as a guide to ingredients while Magical Drafts and Potions provides instructions on brewing potions. Evidently it covers years 1-5 and no new textbook is used until year 6. This seems unwise. I would expect the material to be divided up more for the same reason as Charms and Transfiguration; the dangerous nature of the subject means that students should not have easy access to instructions for potions above their grade level. However, another safeguard against students brewing dangerous potions they have not yet been properly instructed on is access to ingredients. We are told that students have easy access to certain ingredients but not others. When brewing the advanced Polyjuice Potion, Hermione Granger had to trick a teacher into giving her access to restricted books with the instructions, and then steal certain ingredients from Professor Snape’s office. There were two safeguards designed to prevent students from attempting that potion before they are ready; access to instructions and access to ingredients. 

Like most Hogwarts classes, potions is primarily a practical course. Students brew potions in class while following instructions written on a chalkboard. Over the years, students learn how to brew a variety of potions. They seem to progress from easy to difficult. In first year, students learn to brew a forgetfulness potion, which has only three primary ingredients. As the years progress, they learn more complicated potions. Students also learn to brew poisons and antidotes. Advanced potions like the Polyjuice Potion  and the Wolfsbane Potion are reserved for NEWT level. The purposes of some of these potions are clear, like ones that cure boils or other magical ailments. Other potions seem very strange to be teaching students when you consider their effects. What use is a potion that makes people forget things? Or the Confusing Concoction, which makes people disoriented? Instructing students to make potions to hurt people seems to border on teaching dark arts. It seems to me Confusing Concoction could also be used as a recreational drug, as can some other potions we hear about like Elixir to Induce Euphoria, but making recreational drugs does not seem like something we want children learning. Sleeping Draught could be used as medication to help one sleep, or it can be used to hurt people. Perhaps the goal of some of these potions is to prepare students for careers such as being an auror, to use against enemies. One logical way to organize this course would be to begin with potions that are useful for everyday use and progress to ones that are useful for specific careers. However, we must also consider difficulty level. The course appears to be organized by difficulty level and the purpose of teaching how to make forgetting potion seems to be to give students practice making simpler potions to prepare them for more complicated potions. More complicated potions often take several days, or even months, to brew. This obviously cannot be done in one class period. Though not specified, I would presume there is classroom space to store potions in progress for potions that take multiple class periods, similar to art classrooms in real life. 

For homework, students are required to write essays about how to brew certain potions and essays on certain ingredients, such as moon stone, and their uses for potion making. The video games suggest students sometimes have to collect ingredients to prepare for class. While having a scavenger hunt fetch quest is a fun feature for video games, it is a bit impractical as a class preparation requirement. Students would inevitably fail to collect the required ingredients or bring back the wrong ones, making them insufficiently prepared for class. It makes more sense for the required ingredients to be provided in class. Although a scavenger hunt could serve the purpose of giving students practice recognizing magical ingredients and applying knowledge of where to find them, it would be more effective as a separate activity from class preparation. Final exams include practical components; brewing potion in class. In years one and three, it seems students are required to brew one potion during the exam (forgetting potion and confusing concoction, respectively). If only one potion is required for the final exam, I would expect it is a potion that combines all of the skills learned throughout the year. On the OWL exam there is a written section, which seems to be mainly essay questions (as essay homework throughout the year was meant to prepare students for it). The only question we are specifically told about is the effects of Polyjuice Potion, which students have not learned to brew by this point, indicating that by this point there are certain potions they are expected to have knowledge of but not yet have experience brewing. It is logical that these are covered in the written section. The practical section of the OWL exam involves brewing potions but we are not told which ones. One wonders how more advanced potions that take days or months to brew can be tested within the time limit of the exam. My guess would be that they perform the first few steps, then are brought a potion that has already been partially brewed and left to simmer for a few days and then perform the next steps. Similar to how cooking shows show you the first few steps and then show you a pre-cooked sample to bypass cooking time and demonstrate the next steps. The NEWT exam presumably has similar components to the OWL exam but different content. 

In order to advance to NEWT level, Professor Snape required students get the highest possible grade in the OWL exam. Professor Slughorn, however, lowered the requirement. Given the importance of taking certain NEWT level classes for certain careers, it is very unfair that different teachers get to set different requirements for who can take the class. A student could miss out on certain career opportunities because of a stricter teacher. The required grade for advancing in a subject should be universal. 

Overall the course seems well-organized. Content progresses from easy to difficult. The OWL exam tests practical skills as well as theoretical understanding of the effects of potions, and likely also covers knowledge of ingredients and their uses. Potions such as the Polyjuice Potion are introduced in earlier years before students are taught to brew them in later years. The usefulness of some potions are questionable but some potions are very useful for curing magical ailments, such as the potions to regrow bones and prevent werewolves from hurting people.  

Herbology

Herbology is another one of Hogwarts seven core classes that students are required to take in years 1-5 and may continue in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on their OWL exam. It is a class where students learn about the properties of various magical plants, how to care for them, and their magical uses. It is a required class for a career in healing and seems to be highly recommended in general as it is a popular course for NEWT level students. It is one of the classes we are told the least about in the books.

The class presumably also uses the book One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. For NEWT level classes, it uses a book called Flesh Eating Trees of the World. This time, I take no issue with the material not being more divided. WIth Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, there is danger in students having easy access to instructions for spells and potions above their grade level. However, there is no significant danger in students being aware of the existence and properties of plants they have yet to learn about in class. If they actually seek out more dangerous plants, that could be an issue, but being aware of the properties of dangerous plants actually decreases the dangers of encountering them rather than increasing the danger. From a curriculum perspective, it is logical that one book cover the years that students are required to take the class, and a second book be required for the optional years. Other equipment needed for the class is provided in class. 

Like most Hogwarts classes, this is also a practical course. It takes place inside greenhouses, where students get hands-on experience caring for magical plants. We are only shown one class in detail in the books. In second year, students learn about mandrakes. A mandrake is a plant with roots that resemble a human and its screams can kill a person. Mandrakes are used in healing potions such as the one that cures petrification but they can only be used for this after they reach maturation. Second year students are shown how to plant mandrakes. The screams of baby mandrakes are not lethal but can knock people out for hours, and so students are provided with earmuffs for protection when planting mandrakes. Very few details are given about the overall curriculum in Herbology. In first year students learn that the devil’s snare plant can be defeated by sunlight, which is very useful for protecting oneself in case they encounter one. Presumably the course teaches students to protect themselves from various dangerous plants as well as how to care for plants and the uses of various plants for potions and other purposes. Some sources such as video games, suggest certain spells are taught in Herbology, such as how to repel slugs. 

Not much detail is given on homework in Herbology. In Year 5, students have to write an essay on self fertilizing shrubs. Presumably students write essays throughout the years on various types of plants, their care, and uses. I also suspect there would be homework involving identifying parts of plants on a diagram. Not much detail is given about exam requirements in Herbology. The OWL exam has both a written component and a practical component, which involves handling a fanged geranium. If I were designing the exam, the written part would include diagrams and essays and the practical portion would involve demonstrating skills learned in class. The NEWT exam presumably contains similar components to the OWL exam but with different content. 

From what we know of this course, I have little to critique. Overall it seems well organized and useful for life in the wizard world, where people need to know about magical plants they will encounter in their lives; how to protect themselves form dangerous plants and how to utilize plants with medicinal uses and other productive uses. It also provides foundational knowledge for Potions. 

History of Magic

History of Magic is one of seven core subjects Hogwarts students are required to take in years 1-5 with the option of continuing in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. It concerns the history of the wizard world, likely focused mainly on Britain where Hogwarts is located. It is not a very popular course and most students do not continue past year five. It is never specified in the books whether the course is required for any particular careers. It is however, the only required course at Hogwarts that relates to Social Studies, the only required Hogwarts course that might give students knowledge of civics, law, culture, civil rights, or anything about why wizard society is the way it is and whether it should change. The low attention rate in this course may be to blame for all the societal problems we see in the books and why there is so little effort to make any changes. Due to the low attention rate in this course, students do not properly learn how society and government work, why the laws are as they are, or how to consider whether the current laws are just or not. They fail to retain knowledge or understanding of relations between wizards and other creatures or whether things should change. This is not solely the fault of the students. When a course has a low rate of success, the course itself needs to be re-examined. 

The only known textbook for the course is A History of Magic although we do not see any characters take the course in NEWT years, so there might be an additional textbook for those years. No wand or other equipment is used. There is also evidence in the books that the course covers additional material outside the textbook. 

This course is not a practical course, like most Hogwarts courses are. It is purely theoretical and lecture based. Students listen to lectures, which are generally considered very boring, and take notes. The course covers a variety of historical topics. Students learn about magical innovations such as the self-stirring cauldron, historical people such as Uric the Oddball, and historical events such as the International Warlock Convention of 1289. Year three seems heavily focused on medieval witch hunts and year four on goblin rebellions. Year five covers topics such as giant wars and the statute of secrecy. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on historical conflicts with non-humans and on the reasons certain laws were formed. However, we see little to no evidence of students being encouraged to think critically about the issues and how non-humans should be treated by wizard society. There seems to be no encouragement of considering whether laws regarding werewolves are fair. There seems to be no encouragement of students thinking of alternate ways society could handle issues. Although the books do not talk about what is covered in NEWT years, as our main characters do not take the class those years, the wiki lists topics taken from other sources. Such topics include the history of broomsticks, gargoyle strikes, and history of wandlore. On at least one occasion, Professor Binns was persuaded by the students to step outside the usual curriculum plan and give a lecture on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. He was reluctant due to it being a legend and not factual, though the legend did turn out to be true. This lecture was the only time students paid attention. The course could be made more accessible to students by capitalizing on their interests more frequently, and finding ways to tie those interests into prescribed topics. 

Homework for this class consists mainly of essays. Perhaps I am wrong in my assumption that the essays do not involve critical thinking, but all evidence from the books seem to suggest the essays are mainly fact based. This is the only class in which we are told of students getting homework over the summer break. In preparation for year three, students were required to study medieval witch hunts and write an essay on them. Final exams seem to be mainly essay based. The year three exam asked about medieval witch hunts again. The OWL exam is the only OWL exam we know not to have a practical component. It is a written exam with essay questions on topics such as the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and why the Warlocks of Lichtenstein refused to join. The question seems to require that students be able to explain in their own words the reasons for the event. This does require some critical thinking, the warlocks presumably had reasons that require students to somewhat see the pros and cons of them joining the confederation, however we see no evidence of questions challenging students to evaluate historical events. For instance, have them give reasons why they would or would not join the confederation and justify their stance. The NEWT exam is likely also essay based but with different topics. 

This course is full of missed opportunities. A history course should be about the process of historical inquiry, not merely about facts and figures. The teaching method is needlessly boring. This is a school full of ghosts from various time periods who could share their personal experiences. The wiki suggests they do sometimes, but this is based on a video game and there is no evidence of such in the books. The school is also filled with paintings of important historical figures, who have the personalities and memories of the people they depict. They can move around to different frames. They could have the paintings in class debate historical issues and make history come alive. They could have students go outside and re-enact rebellions and battles. Magic can be used to show history in action. There is also a lot of history not covered in the main curriculum that is in books available to students in the library. Hermione Granger takes particular interest in a book about the history of Hogwarts and Harry Potter takes an interest in a book about the history of Quidditch. Students could be given an assignment to research a topic of interest to them and write an essay on it. There are so many missed opportunities that could easily make the course more accessible to students and lead to a higher pass rate. There is also a lack of interest in challenging the stats quo in wizard society. There is no evidence of students being encouraged to critically evaluate the laws and whether they are fair, which would prepare them for possible careers in government. Learning to think about the concerns of non-humans would help prepare for careers liaising with them. The low attention rate in those subject is a reason why there are so many issues in wizard society and a lot more could be done to make the subject more accessible and activate interest in societal issues.  

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Defence Against The Dark Arts is one of seven core classes Hogwarts students are required to take in years 1-5 with the option of taking in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. The course teaches students how to protect themselves from dangers such as dangerous creatures and harmful spells. It is one of the most important classes because it prepares students for the dangers of the magical world. It is also requirement for certain careers such as law enforcement and healing. It is a complicated subject to talk about due to having a different teacher each year for a long time. Up to this point we have been assuming that the curriculum of various subjects is standard and does not change very much over the years. Most Hogwarts subjects have only one teacher and that teacher gets to guide each class through their seven years of education, knowing each student’s progress and strengths and weaknesses. This class, on the other hand, is very disjointed during the time we read about it and has different teachers with different ideas of how to teach it. Each teacher comes in with limited knowledge of how far along their students are in the subject. In real life, students generally have a different teacher every year. What makes the situation with Defence Against The Dark Arts really impractical is that each year the curriculum is shaken up across all seven classes of students. Students are doing year two with one curriculum plan and then year three on a different curriculum plan, it is like switching partway through one course to do a part of another course. If one teacher teaches a certain skill in year three but the next one thinks it should be done in year two, we get students who miss out on learning that skill. Of course it is expected that each class will have a new teacher have to adjust at some point, but a new teacher every year is too much. This is one of the classes where we see that the teachers have some degree of freedom to decide their own curriculum, which can be good depending on the subject but is detrimental to preparing for a standardized exam. This particular class also ought to have some degree of standardized curriculum given its importance to the safety of wizard society. 

Naturally, this is one of the classes for which students generally use wands to practice spells they learn. Required textbooks for this class vary depending on the teacher. When Professor Lockhart taught it, he required students to buy his entire collection of books he wrote. I get the impression this was for students in all seven years. When Professor Umbridge taught, her goal was to discourage students from actually using defensive spells and assigned  textbooks that focused purely on the theoretical. It is difficult to know whether other textbooks we see assigned for this class are standard or depend on the teacher. We know that Harry Potter purchased new books for this class most every year, but none were mentioned for his fourth year. It seems logical that a new book for NEWT years is likely standard, but for other years it is unclear. A logical approach would be to divide the standard curriculum up into parts and require students get a new book every few years, like in Transfiguration and Charms. However, there is a lack of standard curriculum here. 

The material covered in this course seems to vary from year to year. The ratio of practical experience to theoretical learning also varies depending on the teacher. Ideally, students should get practical experience with the spells they are learning to protect themselves from danger. Some teachers, like Professor Lupin, give students firsthand experience with certain dangerous creatures. This is good practice in a controlled environment to keep students as safe as possible. There is inevitably some degree of danger, since the purpose of the class is learning to face danger, but there is also safety protocol in place since students are still new at it. We are not told much about the first year curriculum, but it seems a variety of creatures and spells were talked about. During Harry Potter’s second year, Professor Lockhart gave the class practical experience with Cornish pixies, which are pretty harmless and it seems unlikely this is standard. Professor Lockhart probably wanted to use a creature he could handle and he could not even handle these. For the rest of the year, he focused largely on the theoretical and teaching about the experiences he wrote about facing various dangerous creatures (which he did not actually experience first hand). During professor Lupin’s year teaching, he taught third year students mainly about combatting dangerous creatures, which he gave a lot practical experience with. When Professor Snape substituted, he ignored Lupin’s lesson plans and taught about werewolves. It is unclear if students were supposed to learn about werewolves later in the year, but they are presumably supposed to learn about them at some point in their education. They also learned about werewolves in one of Lockhart’s books but evidently that was not sufficiently accurate and did not teach them about recognizing the signs of a werewolf. During Barty Crouch Jr’s year teaching (impersonating Alastor Moody), he talked to Lupin ahead of time to see what prior learning his students had, which is wise. For his fourth year class, he saw they had sufficient knowledge of creatures and focused his attention on teaching them how protect themselves from curses such as the three Unforgivable Curses. He also provided practical lessons in resisting curses. During Professor Umbridge’s year teaching, she implemented a purely theoretical curriculum designed to prevent students from learning anything useful. Although this was mandated by the government, they did not change the content of the standardized exams, which the new curriculum did not prepare students for. During professor Snape’s year teaching, we do not get much information but we do know that the curriculum includes learning of dangerous creatures such as inferi. NEWT years also cover battling dementors with the Patronus Charm. For the year the Carrow brothers ruled Hogwarts with an iron fist, this class was taken out of the curriculum and replaced with learning Dark Arts. It is presumably restored after the defeat of Voldemort. 

The lack of a standard curriculum is likely very disorienting for students. A logical way to arrange the curriculum would be for years 1-5 to teach students what they need to know for facing dangers in everyday life in the wizard world, and for NEWT years to focus more on preparing students for careers in protecting people from dangerous wizards and creatures. This way everyone gets basic knowledge for self-protection regardless if they continue with the subject in NEWT years. Difficulty level must also be taken into account, which is why the Patronus Charm is reserved for NEWT years. 

During the year Professor Umbridge was teaching, and actively worked against students learning the material, Harry Potter set up a secret club where he taught his own multi-grade curriculum. He had to design his curriculum with students at various skill levels in mind. The youngest member was Dennis Creevey, a third year, or Nigel, a second year, if we count the movies. The oldest members were in their final year of Hogwarts (the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet) and preparing for the NEWT exam. Of course, with the disjointed education they had gotten previous years, it is unsurprising that Potter was able to design a curriculum that was useful to all of them, filling in gaps left by their prior inconsistent education. In education, there is a principle called low-floor, high-ceiling, in which tasks are designed to be accessible to students at various different skill levels by being flexible enough for students to make either simple or complicated, A multigrade course would ideally use this so that students in lower grades are able to learn new skills and students in higher grades are able to improve upon their skills. Students in Dumbledore’s Army would be coming in with varying levels of skill in varying different areas Potter teaches them. Due to the disjointed nature of their previous education, we cannot expect a uniform skill set where higher grade students know more in all areas than younger grade students, there will likely be a mixture where lower grade students know more than higher grade students in some areas. Potter therefore designs his curriculum from scratch, knowing prior experience will vary for each topic. Potter teaches using practical methods, helping students practice various spells he teaches. Potter begins by teaching the group a simple, basic but useful, disarming spell. He teaches a variety of defensive spells that can be used in battle, such as stunning, Reducto (breaking things), and levicorpus (levitating one’s opponent). Potter’s lessons culminate in teaching the most difficult defensive spell he knows: the Patronus Charm (which is used for protection against dementors and is usually taught at NEWT level). A logical progression from easy to difficult. 

Homework for this class seems to be mainly essays, like most Hogwarts classes. Generally essays about various creatures. In NEWT level, students write essays about the unforgivable curses (which we saw students learn about in year four which may be another symptom of the curriculum changing year to year or may just be that they learn it in more depth in NEWT years). At one point, Professor Lockhart assigns students to write a poem about his alleged defeat of a werewolf, which is self-centred but at least it challenges students to be creative. Lockhart also gives students a pop quiz that is all about himself, based on his writings, which has little educational value related to the subject of Defence Against Dark Arts. We only have detailed information on two final exams in the subject. Professor Lupin gave third year students a practical exam in the form of an obstacle course where they demonstrate how to combat various creatures they learned about throughout the year. This is a good, fun yet valid way to test the skills students learn throughout the year. He likely gave practical exams to students in other years as well. Professor Lockhart never got to give a final exam, due to his memory loss and due to exams being cancelled that year, but it would have likely been a written exam focused on trivia about him and his writings. We also do not see exams given by Professor Umbridge, since our protagonists did the OWL exam that year, but her exams were presumably written ones and purely theory-based. The OWL exam contains both a written and practical component, like most OWL exams. The written part includes a question about identifying werewolves. The practical part includes demonstrating various jinxes and defensive spells, including the one for fighting bogarts. Since Harry Potter was known for being good at casting a Patronus Charm, he was allowed to demonstrate this for bonus points. This charm is likely a standard part of the NEWT exam. The NEWT exam likely has similar components to the OWL but different content. Like some of the other OWL exams, this OWL exam seems to be cumulative and test material learned throughout years 1-5. Some of the things tested, we see taught in year three. However, the changes in curriculum over the years make it hard to gauge when students are expected to learn what material. 

The class is overall quite inconsistent due to different teachers. The importance of the subject should necessitate a more standard curriculum. Then again, it is difficult for each teacher to teach a standard curriculum if the previous teacher failed to teach students what they were supposed to. Students with the misfortune of having Umbridge or Lockhart will lack the skills they were supposed to learn those years as they go into the next year, giving the next teacher the frustrating task of catching them up (which is a problem often faced by teachers in real life). A lot of students were screwed over by the constant changes, which may be exactly what Voldemort hoped for when he jinxed the job so that no teacher lasts more than a year. It made it a lot more difficult for students to be sufficiently trained to combat Voldemort and his followers. After the defeat of Voldemort, we can hope the subject gained a more standard and stable curriculum. The subject is best taught using practical methods to give students experience, but with some safety measures in place. The topics would be best organized by taking into account both difficulty level and usefulness, with early years focusing on preparing students for everyday dangers and NEWT years focused on career preparation. 

Care of Magical Creatures

Care of Magical Creatures is one of five elective courses that Hogwarts students may take in years 3-5 and may continue in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. In the class, student learn how to take care of various magical creatures. It is not specified whether the course is required for any particular career but it seems reasonable that it would be required for careers that involve directly working with magical creatures. It is also useful for people who may want magical pets. 

When Professor Hagrid taught the class, he assigned The Monster Book of Monsters which is a book that behaves like a monster and is extremely temperamental, one needs to placate the book before being able to read it. One could argue this is a good practical lesson in caring for temperamental creatures, though it makes the textbook difficult to use. It is unclear if this book actually got used much, since Hagrid changed his plans for the year’s lessons. No other equipment seems to be required for the class but it would not be surprising if wands are used occasionally. 

Like Defence Against the Dark Arts, this is a class where it seems like teachers get to set their own curriculum. Again, this can be a good thing depending on the subject but is detrimental to preparation for standardized exams. Since this course is likely required for certain careers, there should be some degree of standardization to prepare students for what creatures they will encounter in those careers. However, this is also a class where some flexibility is beneficial to teach students about creatures they are interested in caring for.  In Professor Hagrid’s first year of teaching, he introduces Year Three students to Hippogriffs. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy fails to follow instructions and gets injured, leading Hagrid to get in a bit of trouble. After this, Hagrid loses his nerve and spends most of the year teaching about flobberowrms, a very boring creature that does not require much care. He also teaches a class about salamanders. 

The next year, Hagrid gets his courage back and has his Year Four students care for a creature he bred himself called Blast-Ended Skrewts. This is dangerous, likely illegal, and it is a wonder Malfoy did not get him in trouble again. Hagrid asks his students to help him learn how to care for creatures that are unpredictable and he himself knows nothing about yet. From an educational perspective, having a unit where students learn about a creature that has been newly invented has its merits. There is a concept called inquiry learning, wherein a class of students find a topic they are interested in and work together to research the topic. It goes outside the standard curriculum but enables the class and the teacher to learn something valuable together. For Care of Magical Creatures, breeding a new creature and having the class make new discoveries can be a good idea for an inquiry unit. However, Hagrid goes about this improperly. Firstly, an inquiry unit should be based on student interests, not just the teachers interests. Hagrid pays little attention to what his students want. If he had his students provide ideas for a creature to breed or an existing creature to study outside the prescribed curriculum, it may be more engaging. Secondly, Hagrid is not paying attention to safety. He has bred together known dangerous creatures and made a creature with unpredictable dangerous capabilities. It would have been more appropriate to use government guidelines and use creatures that were more safe for students to research. The teacher entering a unit with limited knowledge and learning along with their students can be beneficial, but the teacher is responsible for ensuring it will be reasonably safe first. With Malfoy’s lawsuit happy nature, I have no idea how Hagrid got away with this. 

When Professor Hagrid took time off, Professor Grubby-Plank introduced Year Four students to unicorns, which Hagrid continued the unit on. Hagrid also spent a class teaching students to use snifflers to search for gold, giving a prize to the student who collected the most. A fun class activity with a prize is a beneficial way to help with student engagement. In Hagrid’s third year of teaching, Grubby-Plank once agin filled in for him for part of the year and taught Year Five students about bowtruckles, which are tested on the OWL exam. Hagrid taught Year Five students about thestrals and other creatures. 

Hagrid does not seem to give much homework in the class. At one point he does ask students to visit outside class time to experiment with the skrewts. The exam Hagrid gave Year Three students in his first year of teaching was an easy practical exam that simply involved keeping flobberworms alive for an hour. This is too easy for an exam but it was basically the only thing that class learned that year and so there was little else they could have been tested on. The year was wasted on a creature nobody wants to care for and did nothing to prepare students for the OWL exam or careers in working with magical creatures. The OWL exam consists of a written component and a practical component but we are not told what is on the written part. Presumably questions about the needs of various magical creatures. The practical portion includes identifying a knarl (telling it apart from hedgehogs), handling a bowtruckle, cleaning a fire crab, and selecting a diet for a sick unicorn. There is clearly a standard set of knowledge students are expected to have by the end of year five, which presumably is meant to set them up for careers in the field. However, the freedom of teachers to set their own curriculum is detrimental to the goal of giving students the credentials expected of them. Some flexibility seems reasonable, but too much flexibility is unfair when students are meant to be preparing for a standardized exam and careers. 

The class overall suffers from lack of standardization and from students lacking interest in it. There should be some standards of what students should learn before going into a career in working with magical creatures. On the other hand, there should also be attention to what students want to learn, to prepare them for caring for magical pets that they want to care for or for going into a career where they may work closely with creatures that interest them. In general, students learn more when the topic is of interest to them and this subject seems like an ideal one for incorporating students interests. It would be ideal for the course to combine standard units with ones students choose based on their interests. By teaching about creatures he is interested in, Hagrid fails at both engaging student interest and at preparing them for a standardized exam, rendering the class not very useful for career preparation or for everyday life.

Divination

Divination is one of five Hogwarts electives students may take in years 3-5. Students may continue taking it in years 6-7 of they get the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. This subject is about magical methods of predicting the future. It is unspecified whether this course is required for any particular career. 

The class requires a textbook called Unfogging the Future. There is no mention of it requiring a wand but it would not be surprising if wands are used occasionally. Other required items are provided in class, including things like crystal balls and tea leaves. 

Like most Hogwarts classes, Divination is primarily a practical course. Students practice various methods of divination in class. In Year Three, the first year of the class, students begin by learning how to read tea leaves. Later in the year, students also learn palm-reading, fire omen reading, and crystal ball gazing. They spend several classes on each topic. Year Four is largely focused on astrology, not to be confused with astronomy. Astronomy is the science of outer space, whereas astrology is the use of stars, planets, and constellations for predicting the future. Horoscopes are a part of astrology. Presumably, some things students learn in Astronomy form foundational knowledge for the astrology unit in Divination. In year five, students learn about dream interpretation. When Professor Trelawney was fired and replaced with Firenze, he taught fifth year students more about astrology and fire omens, despite these being taught in prior years. This may be another case of each teacher setting their own curriculum, as astrology is an area of expertise for Firenze. Though we do not see in the books what is taught in years 6-7 (our heroes failed the OWL exam), the wiki lists topics from other sources, such as video games. One of these topics is tarot card reading, which I personally would find the most interesting unit. From what I know of tarot card reading in real life, it would be prudent for students to purchase their own tarot decks rather than be provided by the school. Tarot cards theoretically require a bond with their user. 

One of the unusual things about this course is that it attempts to teach a skill that cannot be learned. Witches and Wizards either possess the natural ability to divinate the future or they do not. I have seen a theory that the purpose of this class is to introduce witches and wizards to various implements and see whether they possess the gift to use those implements to see the future. This is a reasonable theory, but it is still unfair to grade students on their ability to perform a task (or fake a task) that most simply cannot do no matter how hard they try. Rather than expecting students to perform impossible tasks, it would be more fair for the course to be graded on theoretical knowledge, participation, or a combination of the two. A comparable real life subject is physical education. Most schools that teach physical education grade it primarily based on participation, since it would be unfair to have a student’s academic success hinge on physical tasks that some lack the natural ability to perform. Instead, physical education is graded primarily on participation and students making an honest effort. One could make the argument another fair way to grade physical education is on knowledge of the subject matter taught in class; rules of sports, how to effectively use exercise techniques, etc… In the case of Divination, it would also be fair to grade students on theoretical knowledge of how various methods of divination are used by seers. For instance, what various tea leaf symbols mean, what personality types are associated with astrological signs, what certain omens in dreams represent etc… 

One homework assignment we see in year four is filling in a personal chart using planetary movements to make predictions, which our main characters fake. It seems they are expected to make legitimate predictions, even though this is an impossible task for most. It is also implied that Professor Trelawney gives them credit for predicting negative things happening. In year five, students keep a dream journal. The year three exam includes crystal ball gazing, which most students fake. In practice, they are graded on participation; they pass by pretending to see something. Instead of students being expected to put on a facade that they are seeing things in the crystal ball, it should openly be graded based on participation. 

It is also very impractical to grade students on ability to see things in a crystal ball given that there is no way to verify what they see and they can and do fake it. A written exam testing theoretical knowledge might be a more valid way to gauge student learning. For the OWL exam, we are not told what the written component tests. What it ought to ask about is theoretical knowledge of Divination techniques and what to do when you see certain omens. There could be questions like “what should you do if you see the grim in your dreams?” The practical component includes tasks such as tea leaf reading, palm reading, and crystal ball gazing. We see all of these tasks taught in year three. It is unsurprising that the exam is cumulative but it is a little strange we do not specifically hear mention of material from years four and five tested. It is unclear how the exam is graded. The examiners obviously cannot tell if students are actually seeing things in the crystal balls or making things up. It does seem like they expect students to make legitimate prediction, which again is unfair because most do not possess the natural ability. The fair way to grade the exam would be primarily theoretical based, participation based, or a combination of both. Of course if it were mainly participation based, failure would be almost impossible. The written part is likely theoretically based, or perhaps includes filling in star charts and making predictions. The practical part ought to be graded on demonstrating knowledge of how to perform tasks.

In terms of content, the course seems well-organized. It is beneficial to give students knowledge of a wide range of divination methods. The main issue is students being expected to perform the impossible task of seeing the future when few can actually do so. Grades should be based on theoretical knowledge and participation. 

Arithmancy and Ancient Runes

These are two of the five electives that Hogwarts students may take in years 3-5 and may continue in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exams. Arithmancy is a form divination that uses numbers and mathematics to predict the future. Ironically, Hermione Granger thinks it is useful while Divination is not. Ancient Runes is a class where students learn to translate ancient runic text. It is not specified whether Arithmancy is required for any particular career. Ancient Runes is a prerequisite to work as a spell blocker for Gringotts. Little is told to us about either of these classes. 

Both classes require textbooks. Arithmancy requires Numerology and Grammatica and Ancient Runes requires a few different textbooks. It is unknown of other equipment, such as a wand, is used in these classes. Very limited information is given about homework or exams, but the Ancient Runes OWL exam involves translating runes. Information about these two classes is too limited for me to have anything meaningful to analyze. 

Muggle Studies

Muggle Studies is one of five electives Hogwarts students may take in years 3-5 and may continue in years 6-7 if they receive the qualifying grade on the OWL exam. In this course, students learn about non-magical people and how they live. The course is a prerequisite to careers such as liaising with muggles and probably other careers that involve muggles (including Arthur Weasley’s job enforcing laws regarding misuse of muggle artefacts). Despite the limited information we are given, I have a lot of things to discuss with this one. 

Only one textbook is mentioned; Home Life and Social habits of British Muggles. It is unknown if any other equipment is used. It is unlikely any magical equipment is used but it would be beneficial to have practical lessons on how to use various muggle artefacts. The class requires student write essays on topics such as why muggles need electricity. We are not given any details on exam requirements. I believe the exams ought to have a written section as well as a practical section where students demonstrate how to use muggle objects such as flashlights or perhaps build a circuit. 

We are not told much about the content of this course but it seems not to be very effective. It is a reasonable assumption that Arthur Weasley took this class, given his job and his fascination with muggles. Why would he possibly not? And yet he still seems so clueless about the muggle world, you wonder what in Merlin’s name he learned for five years. Wizards should not be so clueless about the muggle world when a large number of them are from muggle families and have close muggle relatives. 

This leads me to have to discuss a big problem with cultural studies in academia: the academic disciplines that study groups of people often do so without input from those groups. There is an effort being made to change this now but historically, European scientists would research a group of people and report their findings with no input from those people to help them understand their culture. This phenomena also applies to groups such as the disabled and the neurodivergent. Due to barriers that have historically been in place, and in some cases still are in place, for certain groups to get into the academic field, they are deprived of a voice in matters that concern them. Due to wizard society being hidden form the muggle world, they cannot ask for direct input from most muggles. However, muggle born witches and wizards are a part of wizard society and their close muggle relatives are allowed to know about it. Input from muggle borns and muggles is available. There is nothing prohibiting muggle borns from studying Muggle Studies, but it is implied that most muggle borns do not take the class because they already have knowledge of the muggle world and do not need it. Most muggle borns would rather take an elective that teaches them something new. The consequence is that Muggle Studies, as an academic discipline, lacks contribution from muggle borns. In order to be considered an expert in an academic discipline, one usually has to study the subject in an official capacity. For cultural studies, this unfortunately means people are expected to take a course on their own culture before contributing to the academic discussion of it. Instead, people should be allowed to have a say in how the subject is taught, on the basis of being from that culture and therefore knowing what they are talking about. In the case of Muggle Studies in the Wizarding World, perhaps muggle borns should be offered the chance to teach it, and create curriculum, without necessarily studying it first. For most Hogwarts courses, particularly ones that teach complex magic, it is reasonable that professors be required to have a NEWT in that subject. However, we have seen exceptions be made for people who are highly knowledgeable in the subject without having the academic credential (Hagrid, who is highly knowledgable of magical creatures despite being expelled from Hogwarts before his OWL year, and Firenze, who is highly knowledgable of divination without having been educated in a wizard school). A muggle born would meet the criteria of being highly knowledgable of the subject without necessarily obtaining an academic credential. To be fair, we do not know whether Professor Burbage is a muggle born or not. However, given how ineffective the class appears to be, I would guess it has not traditionally been taught by muggle borns. 

A related issue is the requirement that students take this class in order to work as a muggle liaison. An ideal candidate for such a job would be a muggle born, if they are interested. However, it may be difficult to find muggle borns who want to work with muggles. Wizards are excited by muggles due to their world being new to them. Muggle borns find the muggle world more mundane and are likely to want a more exciting magical career. Still requiring a class that muggle borns are less likely to take in order to qualify for a job they are ideal candidates for is kind of unfairly prohibiting. Unless of course a muggle born is willing to take a class that purports to tell them about their own culture but is likely insultingly inaccurate, before being allowed to work in that field. 

Now let us look at almost the opposite issue. There is a lot of prejudice against muggles and muggle borns in wizard society. There is a lot of intense bigotry, to the point that racist groups have sometimes taken over Britain and stripped muggle borns of their rights. Wizards and witches need to be taught about muggles in order to reduce the amount of prejudice muggle borns face. Unfortunately, the racism is reinforced by the house system (which we will discuss more thoroughly in a later chapter) wherein Slytherin culture is extremely racist against muggle borns. Any Slytherin who wants to take Muggle Studies risks being ostracized their house. Due to peer pressure, the class is inaccessible to those who need it most. The most effective solution would be to make it a required course. I would not just make it required for Slytherins because that is discriminatory, as would be requiring a course for purebloods only or for muggle borns only. Therefore the course should be required for all students, and this would also solve the issue of not enough muggle borns being interested. 

For one year, the subject was required for all students. Unfortunately, this was the year the curriculum was set by the racist wizards who taught propaganda that made muggles look evil. The subject needs to be respectful towards muggles and reduce prejudices. Especially if muggle borns have to take it, care should be taken to make it accurate and not insulting. Accuracy is also important for the sake of those who do not have prior knowledge and need to learn respect for muggles. 

In conclusion, even though the course is open to all students, societal factors make it less likely to be chosen by those most qualified to contribute to the academic discipline (muggle borns) or by those most in need of education to quell their prejudices (those from the more racist sects of wizard society). Therefore it would be beneficial to everyone to have the course be required for some years. It also ought to be taught by a muggle born, or at least have muggles and muggle borns contribute to the curriculum, to ensure accuracy and sensitivity. 

Apparition

Apparition is an optional twelve week course typically taken in year six. It teaches students how to vanish and reappear far away, which is a popular mode of transportation. The class is taught by a government employee who comes to Hogwarts for twelve weeks each year to teach it. It is offered to students who are age 17 or will be 17 by a certain date. Students can take the class even if they will not be of age to be eligible for the exam at the end. Students have to pay to take the course. The course does not affect academic credentials. Students who pass the exam get a licence to legally apparate. This is probably a requirement for some jobs, similar to how a drivers licence is required for some jobs in real life. 

Prior to the exam, students are given a pamphlet to study on how to avoid common apparition mistakes. This would be helpful to instead get prior to lessons. In class, students are given practice apparating short distances into a hoop. Students old enough to take the exam get extra practice lessons. Apparition is a dangerous practice and wizards and witches often splice themselves, which means leaving parts of themselves behind. The exam is very strict and one can fail if they leave behind even half an eyebrow. They may retake the exam the following year. 

The class is comparable to drivers ed in the real world. Students must pass in order to gain the legal right to a dangerous mode of transportation. Apparition seems more difficult to legally regulate though. Nothing is really stopping people from doing it illegally, except the risk of injury. With driving, people need access to a car, which does not completely prevent illegal driving but does make it more difficult. The requirement that students not even leave a piece of eyebrow behind in order to pass the exam may be overly strict. However, it is reasonable that obtaining a licence to perform a dangerous act have somewhat strict requirements. 

Alchemy

Although not mentioned in the books, additional information from Rowling indicates that Alchemy is a course offered to NEWT level students if there is sufficient demand. It is presumably a course that teaches about transfiguring elements. I like the idea of certain classes being exclusive to NEWT years. The question is what would the prerequisites be? Simply making it to sixth year? Getting a certain number of OWLs? Or perhaps getting certain OWL grades in certain subjects. For Alchemy, I think a reasonable requirement would be certain OWL grades in Transfiguration and Potions, as they are related to the subject. 

Textbooks: General Comments

It is quite efficient that some textbooks are used for multiple classes. One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, for example is useful for both Herbology and Potions. On the other hand, some of the textbooks have unclear purposes. In Harry potter’s required book list for year one, there are eight textbooks. Six of them clearly correspond to six of his classes. The remaining two have unclear purposes. There is no mention of which class uses Magical Theory. This book sounds like it contains foundational knowledge of how magic works. Is the material in it taught in classes like Charms and Transfiguration? Are students simply expected to read it to gain foundational knowledge for all classes? It is never specified. The other mysterious textbook is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A very strange case because this is a book that Rowling actually wrote as a tie-in to the series and later went on to write a series of movies about the guy who supposedly wrote the textbook. Yet we are never told what class Harry Potter uses it for or why he was required to purchase it in year one. The textbook is a reference guide to various magical creatures, some dangerous and others friendly. One possibility is that first year students are simply expected to have it as a reference guide for creatures that may be mentioned in their classes. After all, they have a plant guide that is used for multiple classes. The most obvious class it could be used for is Care of Magical Creatures, but students do not start taking that class until Year Three and even then it is optional. Professor Hagrid also assigned a different book. It is possible he does wind up using Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in class, as it contains sections on flobberwroms and other creatures Hagrid teaches about. This still would not explain why it was on Potter’s required book list for Year One. Another obvious class it could be used for is Defence against The Dark Arts, since it includes dangerous creatures. It contains sections on all of the creatures we see Professor Lupin teach about. However, there was also another textbook assigned by Lupin and it is unclear if he uses this one as well.

Students are expected to pre-read the textbooks before the start of term, as shown by Professors Snape and Lockhart quizzing students on the first days of classes. I found this unusual when I was in K-12 school system but in University, professors began expecting me to do pre-reading. It is useful sometimes to already have read the text before the teacher explains it more throughly. Reading things twice usually helps a person gather more through information, the first reading generally gives you a map of what is going on and the second reading helps you learn the details. Students actually practicing spells or potions before being given proper instructions can be dangerous though. 

A frustrating aspect of the textbooks is that they apparently are not updated very frequently. In Year Six, Harry Potter uses an old copy of Advanced Potion Making. It has helpful suggestions in the margins that greatly improve upon the recipes shown in the textbook. Yet new copies of the textbook still have the same recipes as originally. Despite Professor Snape’s knowledge of how to improve upon the instructions in the textbooks, the textbooks have not been updated with these discoveries. 

Curriculum and Assessment: General Comments

In general, most of Hogwarts classes involve practical class work as well as theoretical knowledge. The emphasis is on the practical experience for most classes. Much of the work is dangerous but some level of danger is unavoidable for the types things they are learning. Homework seems to be mostly essay writing. End of the year exams seem to mostly be demonstrating skills learned. The standardized exams have written sections, which students prepare for with their homework essays, and practical sections, which students prepare for with classwork. Final exams in all years perhaps should contain written sections to prepare for the OWL exams, as well as to test theoretical knowledge that cannot be tested in the practical portion. 

Hogwarts students are given one on one career advice in Year Five. They are advised on which subjects they should take in NEWT years for their chosen career and what subjects they need to work on to prepare for the OWL exams. The strange thing is that this advice is not also given in Year Two when students are choosing electives for years 3-5. Some electives are required for specific careers. In order to ensure students choose the right electives for their career path, career advice ought to be given in Year Two as well.

Something that needs to be examined is how heavily important the standardized tests are. This is a big issue in the education system in real life as well. In the Wizarding World, performance on the standardized OWL and NEWT exams determine which classes students can continue taking and what careers they can get. With the importance of the exams to students futures, it is a heavy responsibility for teachers to adequately prepare them. The teachers do not have a say in what is tested on the exams. With this in mind, it is not fair that teachers like Professor Hagrid and some of the Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers, do not follow a standard curriculum. If the standardized tests are so important to students futures, teachers need to stick to the curriculum more closely. 

This brings us to another issue; is it fair that standardized exams determine a student’s entire future? In real life, the merits and flaws of standardized exams in education is heavily debated with valid points on both sides. My belief is that standardized tests are better used for gauging student progress rather than being a sole determining factor in what opportunities students receive. The high-stakes way these exams are used is one of the biggest issues with them. Like in real life, the amount of pressure Hogwarts students are put under to perform on one single exam is detrimental to their success on that exam. Their final grade that determines which courses they can continue taking, comes down to one single exam. The work students do throughout Year Five does not contribute to their final grade at all. The only reason homework is done throughout the year is to help students gauge what skills they need to work on to prepare for the exam. It would be more fair if part of their grade was determined by work done throughout the year. Students deserve more than one chance to prove themselves capable of continuing in the subject the next year. 

On the other hand, we also see a lot of teachers at Hogwarts grade students unfairly. At least the OWL exams are graded by unbiased people. If they must use standardized exams to determine a student’s future, it is important they at least be graded by an unbiased party. The exam invigilators appear to be completely detached from all the politics involved. They show no biases against Harry Potter, even though the government was determined to unfairly persecute Potter at the time. If Professor Umbridge had been in charge of Potter’s OWL grades, she would have failed him to ruin his chances at becoming an auror. If Professor Snape were grading the exams that determined students futures, he would be biased in favour of Slytherins and against everyone else, especially those he dislikes. Unbiased examiners give everyone an equal chance in theory. However, teacher biases still play a role in preparing students for the exams. The detached examiners do not give any lenience for students who did not receive adequate support from their teachers or for the fact that the government sanitized the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum to prevent students from learning the material. The detachment of examiners from politics and favouritism has both positive and negative effects. They grade everyone equally, but this does not necessarily mean it is fair. They have identical expectations for every student, regardless of circumstances.

Even if standardized exams were not used, some subjects would still require some degree of standardization. Defence Against the Dark Arts is vital to people’s safety and should follow a standardized curriculum. As well as subjects that require great precision like Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration. One merit of standardized exams is keeping teachers accountable to following prescribed curriculum. However, some subjects could use some flexibility. A combination of standard units and independent study units would be suitable for subjects like History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures. Students could be encouraged to explore their interests and study topics of their choosing. One of the big issues with standardized testing in real life is that it makes it more difficult for teachers to be flexible. Students benefit from freedom to explore their interests. Students and teachers benefit from teachers having flexibility to plan their curriculum based on the unique needs of their students. Teachers should get to know each students’ strengths, weaknesses, interests, and preferred methods of learning, and do the best they can to accommodate each student’s needs. The pressure to prepare students for a standardized exam inhibits flexibility.

Another reason standardized testing is controversial is the tendency for teachers to focus on teaching students how to meet the technical exam requirements, which is sometimes detrimental to students meaningfully understanding the material. A major issue I have found when examining what we know of Hogwarts homework and exam requirements is that all of the written work appears to be focused on regurgitation of facts. Granted, our information is incomplete and it is very possible that they have essays that require higher order thinking, but there is no indication of it. Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning (of which there are a few variations) generally places knowledge or memorization at the bottom. Knowing the facts of a topic is fundamental but also surface level and lacks actual understanding of the subject. Comprehension is the next level up in the taxonomy. Essay questions usually test comprehension to an extent, as they require students to explain their understanding of the facts. The next level up is applying knowledge. We see little to no evidence of students being tested on their knowledge of when and how to use the things they learn. Test questions could say things like “which spell would you use to look for a lost quill?” Or “which magical creature is most likely responsible for the flying pots and pans in the kitchen?” Higher forms of learning include analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Analysis and evaluation would be very useful for a subject like History of Magic where students could develop opinions of societal issues. Students should be learning how to challenge the status quo. 

Creativity should be encouraged more in the magical subjects. Spells can be created but the curriculum does not seem to encourage innovation. As mentioned above, exams in subjects like Charms could encourage creative solutions to problems. This could also apply to Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and perhaps Care of Magical Creatures and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Students in later years should be taught to innovate and make progress in wizardkind’s knowledge of magic. The Weasley twins are an example that proves the Hogwarts education system does not reward innovation. The twins used their magical talents to create a variety of unique magical inventions but their abilities are not reflected in their grades. They only received three OWLs each. This is likely because students like the Weasley twins are independent workers and do not like to follow instructions. They get in trouble a lot and they do not take coursework seriously. They are however very talented and skilled wizards. They are the type of students that end up being overlooked by a system that relies on standardized tests and on making everyone conform to one way of doing things. The twins’ innovations end up being embraced by wizard society but their innovative thinking should have also been rewarded by the education system instead of punished. The grading system should embrace creativity and innovation as an alternate way to earn academic credit. In real life, there is usually more than one option for how to meet academic requirements of a course or academic program. Magic is complicated and dangerous, so of course Hogwarts wants to teach students how to do things correctly, but there is often more than one correct way to do things. There needs to be a balance between standardization and freedom for students to explore their interests and innovate. Some material should be standard and absolutely required for passing courses, but there should also be aspects of each course that provide students with multiple options for meeting requirements. Earlier years could emphasize learning to do things correctly and NEWT years could emphasize innovation. As suggested above, an optional independent Transfiguration project could be becoming an animagus. Other magical projects might be possible, like creating new magical inventions or potions. Certain safety parameters would be advisable, of course. The Weasley twins inventions could have been a project that could have earned them academic credit. With encouragement from their teachers, they also could have been given more guidance on safe and responsible inventing. 

As far as we know, students are never given options for their assignments. Instead of always being forced to write essays on specific topics, they could choose between a few essay options. On exams, they could be given a choice of which questions to answer. This is often done in real life in order to allow students to play to their individual strengths. Additionally, students could be doing magical projects to earn credit.

Summary

It is difficult to summarize Hogwarts classes and their requirements. Our information is incomplete and some things are left to the imagination. There are some positives in the system but there are also some flaws. By examining issues present with Hogwarts curriculum, instruction, and assessment, we also highlight issues that real life school systems grapple with. Topics such as the pros and cons of standardized tests, how to do inquiry units, multigrade curriculum, and adjusting to constant changes in curriculum. We still have a long way to go. In the next chapter, we will discuss some courses I think Hogwarts ought to have but does not. In later chapters we will also grade the Hogwarts teachers and discuss general aspects of the school. Throughout all this, I hope to continue to highlight real life issues that these topics illustrate. 

Chapter Text

When considering what courses should be offered at Hogwarts, we have to ask ourselves what the goals of an educational institution such as Hogwarts are. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. What the goals of an educational institution are or ought to be largely depends on who you ask. There is no universal consensus and probably never will be. In general the goal is preparation for life after completion of one’s education. What this means is a matter of debate. Some general goals are career preparation, preparation for everyday life, preparation for personal goals, socialization, adopting society’s values, moral and ethical development, appreciation of the arts and culture, expansion of general knowledge, development of personal interests, and knowledge of society in order to help improve it. Not everyone agrees with all of these goals and some might think there are other goals that should be included. Different school districts set different requirements for what knowledge and skills students should theoretically have obtained by certain stages in their education. Goals are categorized into general curriculum outcomes (overall goals for a subject area) and specific curriculum outcomes (more specific details students are supposed to learn). There are also key stage curriculum outcomes which are more general outcomes to have by certain stages in education (eg, grades 3, 6, 9, and 12). Essential Graduation Learnings are generalized goals of what students are expected to know by the end of high school or equivalent. It would be tedious to compare essential graduation learnings in every school district in the world but I will give the ones in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador as an example; 

• Aesthetic Expression (artistic expression and appreciation)
• Citizenship (knowledge of social studies; civics, culture, economics, environmentalism, and how to make informed choices in these areas in order to fulfill responsibilities as a member of society)
• Communication (ability to communicate through reading, writing, listening, speaking, visual methods, and scientific and mathematical literacy)
• Personal Development (developing active and healthy lifestyle) 
• Problem Solving (using logical processes to solve a range of problems)
• Spiritual and Moral Development (development of spiritual beliefs and ethical values)
• Technological Competence (how to effectively use technology). 

Most of these sample essential graduation learnings are of universal value, even in the fictional Wizarding world. Citizenship education is vital to having citizens who can make informed choices on how society should be run. Communication is vital to the sharing of ideas to better society. Personal development is vital to everyone’s well-being. Problem Solving is vital to navigating everyday problems as well as bettering society. Ethical development is vital to preventing evil, especially in a society recovering from wars and evil regimes and where dark magic is accessible. Aesthetic expression and appreciation is vital to society working through dark times and learning from other cultures. Technological competence, as it is taught in the muggle world, is not applicable to magical society. Instead, competence in magical technology, spells, potions, and herbs is more applicable. Indeed, the primary educational goal at Hogwarts seems to be the teaching of  competence in magical ability. One of the purposes of the school is to ensure wizards and witches are able to control their magic and prevent accidents such as blowing up one’s aunt. It is also to help students utilize everything they can do with their magical abilities. Of course, given the dangerous nature of magic, an important goal ought to be teaching the safe and ethical use of magic. 

Let us examine the necessity of ethical development and citizenship education more closely. Hogwarts serves a specific sect of society: magical people in Britain. We see throughout the books that this society has a lot of moral issues; questionable legal procedures, harsh treatment of those convicted of crimes, discrimination against various groups, and more. We see a society recovering from a devastating war that caused moral corruption in the government and, by the end of the series, it happens again. One of the reasons Voldemort was able to do so much damage both times was he exploited the needs of those who had been overlooked by wizard society, such as werewolves and giants, promising them the things they were not given in current society. The details of wider societal issues in the magical world are outside the scope of this essay but they need to be mentioned in order to demonstrate the necessity of Hogwarts instilling in students an understanding of these issues and an ethical framework for addressing them in order to prevent another devastating war. 

An important consideration in what courses Hogwarts ought to offer, is who are the students. There are two main types of students at Hogwarts; those from magical families and those from muggle families. The former have lived in wizard society their whole lives while the latter are new to wizard society and culture. The needs of these two groups are slightly different in that muggle borns require more initiation into wizard society while magical born children require more understanding of the muggles that regularly interact with wizard society. Still all students are new to learning how to perform magic and are presumed to be equally prepared. Both sets of students are on equal footing in learning magic, but not in learning about magical society and culture. It is important that Hogwarts consider the needs of both sets of students, ensuring adequate preparation to succeed at Hogwarts and to succeed in wizard society after Hogwarts.

Another consideration is the apparent lack of post-secondary school in the Wizarding world. Canonically, it seems post-secondary school for wizards does not exist, only on the job training. In the real world, highschool is theoretically designed to prepare students for general adult life, certain career prospects, and for the possibility of attending post-secondary school. It is the responsibility of post-secondary school to prepare students for many specific careers. The lack of post-secondary school places the burden on Hogwarts to ensure students are prepared for the careers they desire. It is an unusual burden for a secondary school to have a general curriculum be sufficient preparation for specific careers. With all this in mind, here are what I believe Hogwarts essential graduation learnings ought to be:

• Magical Competency: ability to use spells, magical items, potions, and magical herbs in a productive, safe, and ethically responsible manner
• Magical Societal Initiation: A thorough initiation into magical society and preparation for everyday challenges in the magical world
• Innovation: Knowledge and skills to contribute to the progress of magical knowledge and development of how it can be used
• Problem Solving: Creative use of magic to solve problems encountered in magical society and everyday life
• Citizenship: Understanding of the interrelationships between laws, government, history, economics, culture, and relations between various groups
• Personal Development: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and pursuing one’s personal goals and interests
• Career Preparation: Knowledge and skills sufficient to enter into desired fields of employment
• Communication: Ability to effectively learn and communicate ideas
• Aesthetic Expression: Ability to communicate through artistic methods and appreciate the contributions of various cultures
• Ethical Development: An understanding of the responsibility that comes with magic and the rights of all members of society, including non-humans, those with medical conditions, and non-magical people

With these goals in mind, this chapter will discuss courses I propose be a part of the Hogwarts curriculum in order to sufficiently prepare students for success at Hogwarts and beyond. 

Hogwarts Prerequisites

Canonically there are three prerequisites to attending Hogwarts: reside in Britain, be eleven years old, and have innate magical ability. We are never told whether transferring from another magical school is a possibility, generally all Hogwarts students start at age eleven. 

Although no academic prerequisites are stated, some prior knowledge is assumed. In order to take notes and write essays, students must know how to read and write. In order to be successful at writing essays, students must have some rudimentary knowledge of how to structure an essay. Presumably, the ones raised in the muggle world learned these skills in muggle primary school (British primary school is equivalent to grades K-5 in Canada and the United States) but what about the ones raised in the magical world? It seems we are meant to assume they are homeschooled. Which means that witches and wizards have successfully homeschooled their children for generations to prepare them for Hogwarts. So what happens when muggle born witches and wizards have children and are unfamiliar with how homeschooling is usually done? Do they send their kids to muggle primary school? They might but it seems to be implied in canon that this rarely happens. I would not want to insult magical parents by implying they are insufficient at teaching students these skills but perhaps, just to ensure a standard pre-Hogwarts curriculum is being taught, Hogwarts could send checklists to parents to remind them of the skills their children need to learn prior to attending Hogwarts. Real life schools sometimes do this for parents preparing their children for preschool or kindergarten. For Hogwarts, this would include reading and writing goals such as; reading comprehension, note taking, spelling, grammar, and structuring an essay. 

Basic math is also a skill that students need for success at Hogwarts. You may scoff at this and say math is useless but you likely use some forms of math in your everyday life. Math is used in real life for tasks such as cooking, time management, money management (It amazes me how wizards make sense of their ridiculous and inefficient monetary system without practice in math and I refuse to accept the notion they use magic to think), sewing, construction, and driving (eg, deciding how soon you need to fill your gas tank). People also need math in certain careers such as finance, engineering, doing correlational studies, and limiting the impact of a pandemic. Society needs people who are skilled at math. But the real life applications of math are a little off topic. Math is required in at least two Hogwarts classes: Potions (for measuring ingredients) and Arithmancy. It is also probably used in other classes, for example Herbology might require math to determine how much water to give a fanged geranium. Prior to Hogwarts, it is important that students learn how to count, basic measurements (especially weight and liquid volume for potions), the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), and working with fractions and percentages (they need to understand how to determine the ratios of ingredients to put into a potion). More complex forms of math are probably taught in Arithmancy. 

There cannot be any prerequisites involving magical knowledge because this would be unfair to students who grew up in the muggle world. The rules seem to dictate parents of muggle-borns not be told of magic until the child’s eleventh birthday. But perhaps this tradition should change and offer more assistance to parents dealing with unexplained accidental magic. In any case, as long as the prerequisite knowledge is accessible to children attending muggle primary school, there is little need to inform muggle parents of these prerequisites. 

In summary, prior to attending Hogwarts, students should learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Those who attend muggle primary school are assumed to learn what they need there. Parents whose children do not attend muggle primary school should consult a checklist to ensure they sufficiently prepare their children for Hogwarts. 

Safety

Most of Hogwarts core classes require dangerous magic. Learning some safety tips and procedures prior to beginning this work would be wise. At my university, I took electives in science. All students taking science classes were required to do a quick, non-credit lab safety course online, where we simply read the material and took a quiz. There was nothing stopping students from cheating and checking notes while taking the quiz but I think the university was okay with this because the concern here was not academic integrity, the purpose was to ensure students read the material in preparation for lab work. The quiz was just to make certain students went back and read the parts the university wanted to make sure they read. A similar quick course would be advisable at Hogwarts, or a lecture at the start of each of the dangerous classes. Particular attention would be paid to what to do if a spell backfires, how to handle potion spillage, how to handle injuries or other magical mishaps, and how to avoid trouble when caring for dangerous plants or animals. This course would not take up much time in students’ schedules as it would not be for a full year but probably just a week at the start of each year. 

Ethics

One of the purposes of a magical school is teaching the responsible use of magic in order to prevent misuse. I do not think ethics should necessarily be its own class, but it should be built into every class. Students need to learn ethical use of potions and spells, to help people and not harm them. They also need to learn ethical care of plants and animals. There is also a need for ethical thinking in the magical community about how they treat various groups and whether current government policies are ethical, these topics should be built into History of Magic, Muggle Studies, and other classes. As in ethics classes in the real world, the goal is not always to tell students what to think about ethical issues, as many ethical issues are complicated and have no easy answers, but to give them ethical principles to guide them in making ethical decisions and understanding all sides of an issue. 

Drug Safety

The magical world has a lot of magical drugs. This is not purely speculation, we are told that overuse of Felix Felicies has intoxicating effects. In one of the video games, Dumbledore admits to using it recreationally. In class, Harry Potter brews elixir to induce euphoria. First year students know how to make potions to make people forget things and it surprises me that we do not see that constantly abused to prank one another before exams. They also learn how to make potions to make people confused. There is no doubt a myriad of potions and herbs with drug-like effects. I do not think drug safety needs to be its own class but perhaps a component of Potions and Herbology and perhaps a school-wide assembly a few times a year. 

I am not a big fan of abstinence only drug education. When you tell students to completely refrain from doing something, you close the door to teaching how to do the thing safely. You cannot give detailed advice for how to safely mitigate the effects of drugs when you have already said the only acceptable safety precaution is not to do it at all. When the message is to absolutely stay away from it, students do not learn the nuances of how to self-monitor the effects of drugs and put precautions in place in case of things going wrong. Also, when you tell them that any use of drugs at all will result in catastrophic effects, they will eventually find out you have exaggerated and then they will not trust anything you have said about the dangers of drugs. Telling students to stay completely away from drugs is futile in real life and even more so in a school like Hogwarts where students have even more easy access to abusable substances than they would in the muggle world. Magical children are at great risk of abusing substances they do not even think of as drug-like until too late, due to all the complex substances they have access to. Instead of being warned to absolutely avoid drugs, students should be carefully educated about the effects of each drug, the legalities of them, and how best to keep safe if they encounter or use them. They should also learn how to give first aid to a friend in an emergency because sometimes it takes time before a prefect or teacher can be summoned. 

Logic

“A lot of the greatest wizards haven’t got an ounce of logic”- Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, chapter 16

Right, a lot of powerful magic users don’t have logical thinking skills, because their education system does not teach it. Formal logic is something that would be very useful for helping students reason how and when to efficiently use magical skills and general life skills. In real life, formal logic is taught in math and philosophy courses and is tested as a prerequisite to law school. I would have Hogwarts offer formal logic in the first two years, helping students learn to problem solve, use deductive reasoning, and recognize how to form a valid argument. The main difference from a muggle formal logic class, is this one would use examples of reasoning around situations encountered only in the magical world. A good logic course only takes a year or two at most so I would have this course end before year three and be out of the way before electives begin. Students will then have good foundational knowledge going forward. 

Magic Theory

Despite there being a required textbook on magic theory, we are never told what class it is used for. It would make sense for there to be a class on magic theory or for it to be incorporated into other classes. If it is its own class, I would have it begin in year one in order to give first years a foundation on which to build their knowledge of magic. It should teach students a fundamental understanding of the science behind how magic works, which they can build upon to understand why the spells they practice work as they do. An underlying understanding of why things work as they do will help students more effectively remember how to perform a spell; understanding is a more efficient recall tool than simple memorization. It can also help students later learn how to improve techniques and innovate. It can help student make discoveries and advance society’s understanding of magic. I would add  this course to the set of core course required in years 1-5 and optional in years 6-7 with a high enough OWL grade. An OWL or NEWT credit in magic theory could be a good resume builder for work in magic research and innovations. The wiki suggests this course is offered as an extra-curricular class, which is apparently something they extrapolated based on it appearing on a class schedule in the movie. 

Courses related to Arts and Culture

Like any group of people, British wizards have their own culture; they have unique traditions, folktales, sports, games, food, art styles, etc… Hogwarts should serve to pass this culture along to the next generation, especially considering some students are new to wizard culture. For example, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, having grown up in the muggle world, had no idea about traditional children’s folktales from the magical world until they were young adults. Students have a need to learn the values of the culture they are a part of. The magical world likely has unique cultural things that are not mentioned in the books, such as music styles. I think it is an oversight on Rowling’s part that we do not hear about unique wizard holidays. Hogwarts ought to offer courses that teach about magical culture including; music, art, and literature. Although my personal interests lie mainly with the traditional “core” classes such as math, language arts, science, and social studies, I also recognize the value in art and music classes. Some see these classes as extra and not important, but helping students develop artistic expression is very valuable to self-exploration and emotional regulation. It is also a bit contradictory that real life education systems make literature part of the “core” curriculum when literature is really just another art form. Art and Music should be treated as just as important as literature. Artistic expression is extra important to a society that has been through a lot of trauma, like Wizarding Britain has, to rebuild their sense of cultural identity and cope psychologically with the trauma. 

The wiki suggests, based on sources such as the movies and video games, that Hogwarts offers extra-curricular classes in art, music, muggle art, and muggle music. Studying muggle art and music is also useful to wizards, as interacting with the muggle world is a significant part of their lives. Just as muggle born students benefit from immersion in wizard culture, wizard born students benefit form immersion in muggle culture, preferably taught by muggle born artists. These classes could be useful prerequisites for careers in art, music, or cultural research. Wizards have the unique ability to make photographs and paintings come alive and the people in them have personalities. Techniques related to this can be taught in art class, as well as other interactive art styles only magic users can do. Wizards also probably have unique ways of making music using magic. Learning the muggle ways is also of value as it exposes students to another culture they may interact with and provides them with the challenge of practicing creativity without magic. The muggle art classes could benefit those seeking careers working with muggles. I would also have classes, teach about the art and music of Wizards in other countries outside of Britain. This could also include learning about foods from other cultures, as cooking is an art form. This would benefit those seeking work in international relations (such as Percy Weasley) or work abroad (such as Bill Weasley and Charlie Weasley).

Another important aspect of cultural expression is literature. We do not seem to hear much about literature in the wizard world. We mostly hear of non-fiction books. The Tales of Beedle the Bard shows us children’s folktales but we do not see any fiction aimed at adult wizards. Unless we count Gilderoy Lockhart’s books, which claim to be autobiographical but are actually about things that happened to other people so I guess that is dishonest non-fiction. Surely there must be witches and wizards who write fictional novels aimed at adults (personally, I enjoy the head canon that the Harry Potter books themselves are written by Hermione Granger under a pen name to appeal to both wizards and muggles of all ages). It would also be a great idea for witches and wizards to make interactive graphic novels. Hogwarts should offer a class where literature by magical people is studied as well as creative writing classes where students can learn skills for writing literature. This is the type of subject that Professor Lockhart would actually be useful teaching. 

I would make these courses optional, one year courses. They could be multigrade classes students may choose to take any year of their Hogwarts career. I would not make all of these courses required, since students have a lot on their plate, but I would make it a requirement to take at least one course in this group of courses for one year. Students would have a choice of any arts and culture related class they want to fulfill this requirement. Options would include; Magical Art, Muggle Art, Magical Music, Muggle Music, International Art and Culture (including music), Magical Sports and Recreation (including international sports; completion of the first year flying course would be a prerequisite), Muggle Sports and Recreation, Literature by Witches and Wizards, Muggle Literature (with emphasis on legends and literature involving magic), International Literature, Children’s Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing. These would all have practical components, some would include playing sports and games, some creating art or music, some writing, some performing plays, and some reading. Passing any one of these classes would require either passing final exam or completing a creative project. Students would have to pass at least one of this group of classes to graduate. 

Magical Sexual Education

Alright, send the prepubescents out of the room, this is the part that isn’t for them. Reader discretion is also advised if you are sensitive to topics of sexual assault and violations of consent. Naturally, the Harry Potter book series does not talk about sexual education because it is meant to be child-friendly. However, Hogwarts is full of students who are going through puberty and realistically need sexual education. Not only for the reasons muggles do, but also because the magical world has unique issues surrounding sex. I would have this course be taught by the school nurse, Madame Pomfrey. 

Teaching about sexual education in schools is a controversial topic. Some people do not believe it should be allowed because they fear it encourages sexual activity among young people. Some believe the purpose of sexual education should only be to tell students never to have intercourse outside marriage. Similar to my stance on drug education, I believe that teaching abstinence only closes the door to explaining nuances about how to stay safe. Sexual education is necessary because of the dangers involved in sex, both physical and emotional. I believe the emotional aspects are still often overlooked in real life. Students need education to enable them to make informed and responsible decisions regarding sex. I do not support abstinence only sexual education because it denies students the opportunity to explore options and make a fully informed decision. Students need to be fully informed of the physical and emotional consequences so that they can make the decision that is best for them and so that if they choose to have sex, they will be prepared. Sexual education is also important because students who are newly going through puberty are experiencing new sensations and emotions for the first time and require guidance to understand what they are experiencing. Ideally, sexual education should cover the following topics; understanding physical and emotional changes in one’s body as one goes through puberty, making responsible choices about when to have sexual intercourse (intercourse should neither be encouraged nor discouraged, but the potential physical and emotional consequences of it should be explained in order for students to make informed choices), the meaning and importance of consent, options for birth control and protection from STIs, healthy relationship behaviour, and understanding one’s sexual orientation and gender identity. I do not believe male and female sexual education should be separate, all students benefit from knowledge about the opposite sex. Besides, intersex people, who are physically not fully male or female, exist and need to know about both. Now this is all true for muggle sexual education, but Hogwarts sexual education would have to be a bit different to address some sexual issues unique to the magical world. 

One issue is interspecies relations. In the real world, humans are the only species considered intelligent enough to give informed consent for sex with humans, therefore it is considered morally wrong to have sex with other species. The magical world, however, has multiple species that are considered to have humanlike intelligence. Some of these species include centaurs, mermaids, veelas, and goblins. Some of them can breed with humans. Fluer Delacour, for example, is part veela. What happens between two consenting adults is their business. Interspecies sex should neither be encouraged nor discouraged but students should be informed of what they may need to know when engaging with other species. They need to know the physiologies of these species, whether there is a risk of pregnancy, and whether there is risk of STIs or other physical dangers or complications. 

Another issue is the effects of magic on the human body. We are not told specifically but there is a good chance certain potions or spells have an impact on physical and emotional development. Students should be warned of those and what effects they may have. There is also a good chance there are magical STIs only magical people have, which students need to be warned about and told about symptoms and treatments. 

The magical world likely has different methods of birth control as well. One wonders if they use condoms or a shield charm. Using a shield charm on a condom is probably more reliable than using one without the other. Rather than muggle birth control pills, magical people probably use special types of potions to achieve similar hormonal effects. 

Many issues related to sex in the wizard world are around the subject of consent. There is such a myriad of ways magic can be used to violate consent, it is actually quite disturbing to think about. This is the main reason there is a content warning on this chapter, if sexual assault is a triggering topic for you, I recommend caution going forward. One of the ways consent can be violated is with love potion, which seems much too socially accepted. Weirdly, the same book that treats it as a joke when Ron Weasley is a victim of a love potion treats it as serious when Merope Gaunt victimizes Tom Riddle Sr. This may be a symptom of how females sexually assaulting males is not taken seriously enough in society. Sex under the influence of a love potion should not be considered consensual and using love potion to take advantage of someone should not be socially accepted or even legal. Students should be taught that using any kind of potion to alter someone’s sexual desires is not morally acceptable. This also includes disguising oneself using polyjucie potion. A person cannot consent to sex with someone under an assumed identity. If polyjuice potion is used to deceive someone into thinking you are someone else, this is not consensual. However, it is consensual if your partner is aware of your real identity and consents to having sex with someone disguised by polyjuice potion. What is morally ambiguous is whether this violates the consent of the person being impersonated. Say Hermione and Ron decide to have sex while one of them is polyjuiced as Harry, does it violate Harry’s consent to use a likeness of his body during sex without his permission? I am not sure there is an easy answer to that but it should be discussed during sexual education. Another dangerous way consent can be violated is with the unbreakable vow, a spell in which two people enter a binding magical agreement where, if they break the terms of it, they die. Students should be taught never to make sexual acts a part of such an agreement because it deprives someone of the ability to safely withdraw consent. Another frightening way people can be deprived of their rights is with the imperious curse, which forces people to act against their will. The imperious curse is already highly illegal, up there with murder, but a special point should still be made to mention that people cannot consent to sex under the imperious curse. Much like in real life, we make a point of saying people cannot consent to sex under threat of physical violence. Threats of violence are illegal anyway but it still bears mentioning that forcing sexual acts this way is a violation of consent. It is also a violation of consent to alter a person’s memory so that they think they are in a relationship or are otherwise deceived into sexual acts. The confundus charm used for sexual acts is also a violation of consent. Another disturbing issue is the possibility of sex with house elves. House elves do not have the ability to say no to sexual acts. Unfortunately, taking advantage of house elves is likely perfectly legal in wizard society but it should not be. Hermione Granger has my blessing to outlaw people engaging in sexual acts with house elves in their service. For the same reason sex with one’s employees is illegal in real life, there is too much of an imbalance of power and the employee feels like they cannot say no. 

Let us talk about sexual spells. Aberforth Dumbledore was convicted of inappropriate spells on a goat. It is unclear what the punishment was but I do not get the impression he got jail time. It is not outright stated but it is likely that Rowling intended to imply Aberforth Dumbledore used magic to molest the poor goat. The question this raises is whether these sexual spells were illegal in and of themselves or only illegal if used on a being that cannot consent. If these spells alone were illegal, they probably fall under the category of another disturbing way consent can be violated in the magical world. On the other hand, if they were more innocuous spells, using them to enhance pleasure between consenting people is perfectly fine. A further question raised though is whether it is a violation of consent to use sex spells on a muggle. I would say that sexual spells should not be used on a muggle who has no knowledge of the magical world because they cannot give informed consent to magical sex acts. Sex between magic users and muggles is fine as long as no magic is involved. 

Now let us change the subject to gender identity. At this point we have to address the hippogriff in the room. I have been struggling to find a professional way to word this. We are all well aware that Joanne Rowling, the original creator of the fictional school under discussion, does not accept the validity of transgender identity. Rowling has adamantly made it clear that she is in vehement opposition to the political movement to give transgender people acceptance and recognize their rights. Rowling’s attitude towards this has harmed countless people and I will not pretend otherwise. I will also not ignore the educational needs of any hypothetical Hogwarts students. Transgender people, as well as people with other gender-complex identities, are real and valid, whether Rowling thinks so or not, and there would inevitably be witches, wizards, and magical people who prefer a gender neutral term, who would seek to use magical methods to explore their gender identity. The wizarding world has multiple ways in which people can temporarily or permanently change sex. Polyjuice potion can be used to temporarily change into a person of the opposite sex and see how it feels. Spells can be used to change once’s appearance to look like the opposite sex. There would also likely be magical objects and transfiguration methods transgender people use. There also might be false information floating around and people who try to scam transgender people with magical objects that do not do what they say they do. One of the responsibilities of the education system is to ensure students have the tools they need to make safe and informed decisions about their lives. Students who wish to magically explore the possibility of changing their sex or gender will have a lot of information coming at them about spells, objects, and potions that they can use to do this. To ensure their safety and comfort, the sexual education course should help students throughly understand their magical options with regards to exploring their gender identity. This will prevent them from doing something misguided and having a spell, magical object, or potion backfire. The sexual education course should contain a unit where students are taught about polyjuice potion, transfiguration of sex organs, spells for changing appearance, and any other magical methods that exist for temporarily or permanently changing one’s sex or appearance. They should learn the benefits and dangers of each option. Students should be advised that should they wish to avail of any of these gender exploration methods, they should consult Madame Pomfrey or a healer and do it under the guidance and supervision of a professional. It is important that this be part of the general curriculum because some students may not know they have gender dysphoria or be too shy to come forward; without knowing which students need the information it should be introduced to all of them and then those struggling with gender dysphoria will learn what is happening to them. However, only a minority of students will end up needing this information. Thus, the unit should be a general introduction to the methods of gender exploration and details should be reserved for students who wish to explore the topic further in one on one sessions with Madame Pomfrey. Each individual student will have their own individual needs and preferences for which methods of gender exploration work best for them and so one on one sessions are the best way to explore it in depth. Some people may object to the notion of enabling students to experiment with gender identity, but the students who would do so are going to do so either way and it is better they do so with proper guidance. It it also cruel to allow students with gender dysphoria to suffer needlessly. If the magical world has the means to help those with gender dysphoria explore their identities and become comfortable in their bodies, then they should. 

This course should be required for all Hogwarts students. It is important to be proactive and teach students these topics before they are old enough to start doing any of this. However, it should not be taught too young. Year one would be too early. I initially thought year three should be when it begins, as students are turning thirteen. However, then I remembered that canonically some students turn thirteen early in year two. Students have to be eleven by September 1st of the year they enter Hogwarts. I thought of making it age based but it is less confusing if students in the same year all take the course at the same time. Year two is a good place to begin, when students have completed the flying course and have extra room in their schedules. It is also before they begin taking electives and so it makes it so they do not begin too many new classes at once. I am unsure how many years it would take to cover all of the content. I think 2-3 years should be sufficient. This way the class ends before year five, when students need to concentrate on preparation for OWL exams. Sexual Education should be a non-academic course, with no OWL or NEWT exam. It is for student health and safety, not for academic credentials. However, it is important to ensure students understand the material to reduce the risk of sexual abuse or other dangers related to sex. A written exam should be given at the end of each year of the course. If students fail initially, they should have to retake the exam until they pass. 

Magical Technology

Several Hogwarts classes teach spells and how to use magical plants and animals, but do they teach about magical objects? I think some Hogwarts classes touch upon it but it would be nice to have an entire subject dedicated to understanding the uses of magical objects and how they work. Students would learn the magic behind things like flying broomsticks, golden snitches and bludgers, joke products, remembrals, howlers, every flavour beans, moving chess pieces, moving photos and paintings, and many other magical objects we see throughout the series. They would have practical lessons in how to use these things and perhaps how to make them. They could learn to make portkeys. An optional extra credit project could be inventing a magical object. NEWT years could cover complex topics like wandlore, wand making, and the inner workings of time-turners. Beginning years would focus on more fun things students are interested in, like the aforementioned Quidditch and joke shop products. I would make this another elective available from year three onwards with OWL and NEWT exams available. It could prepare students for careers such as entrepreneurship or any job that uses magical technology. It could also prepare students for working in the ministry department of mysteries.

Magical Home Economics

Since Hogwarts had a significant number of students who are from muggle households, it would make sense to have an optional course to prepare students for managing a magical household. After all, where else is someone like Hermione Granger, who is destined to marry a pure-blood wizard, supposed to learn this? She will presumably learn from her mother-in-law, but what about when two muggle-born magic folks get married and neither of them know how to manage a magical household? They could choose to live in a muggle house but perhaps they do not want to, they want to be fully integrated into wizard society. Let us also consider what happens when a kid like Draco Malfoy loses his house elf and begins having to do his own chores during the summer. I know that Malfoy was awful to his house elf and deserves to be punished by having to suddenly do things himself, but let us still give him the chance to learn to do them correctly. 

We are told in the books that there are some unique chores that magical people do, such as de-gnoming gardens (that is, getting all the gnomes out of the garden). A home economics course could give students practice doing unique magical chores such as this. Students would also learn, and practice, magical methods of doing everyday chores like cooking, washing dishes, laundry, and sewing clothing. They would also learn about childcare and whether there are unique things to know about caring for magical children, or unique things about caring for squib children. They could also learn financial management, and getting used to their strange nonsensical monetary system before having to use it in adult life. 

Let us address the uncomfortable fact that realistically, during the time period we read about in the series, this course would also have a unit about house elf management. In other words, how to keep your slaves productive. I like to imagine Hermione Granger, an ordinarily perfectly behaved student in classes, having a righteous tantrum over this during class. Hopefully, Granger’s involvement in government would eventually change the status quo and the unit on house elf management would become a unit on respectful relations with house elves, fair compensation, workers rights, and that sort of thing. The need for such a unit would actually increase as house-elf rights increase. The shift in societal attitudes towards house-elves would require education for a new generation to adapt and learn to respect house-elf rights. 

I would make this course an elective students may take from year three onwards. OWL and NEWT exams would be offered. In addition to preparation for managing a household, it could prepare students for careers in fields such as social work, hotel management, or professional cooking or cleaning. Molly Weasley would be a good person to teach it, or some other witch or wizard with a lot of experience. 

Emerging Fields of Study

The issue of the shifting societal attitude to house-elf rights also brings up the fact that there are various other areas in which social reform is needed in wizard society. Part of the purpose of education is to prepare students to make societal changes, to create a better society by producing people who have the knowledge and skills required by society. Hogwarts is in dire need of effectively taught History of Magic and other social studies courses to supplement it. Especially immediately after the events of the series, when their society is recovering from a devastating period of war. I will put another galleon in the mentioning the war jar. I try to avoid bringing the wider politics of wizard society into this but education does not exist in a vacuum, it has to account for what students need to prepare them for helping solve wider societal issues. In real life, countries that are rebuilding themselves after huge upheavals implement educational reform. Sometimes, they also seek educational aid from other countries. The wizarding world is very much behind the muggle world in certain necessary areas of knowledge such as; cultural relations, counselling psychology, and legal ethics. While they cannot ask just any muggles for aid without exposing their secrets, muggle born witches and wizards have close family members who are allowed to know about the wizard world. They ought to find a few close relatives who are experts in these fields to ask for assistance. Some trial and error might be required to decide how best to work these subjects into the curriculum. 

Interspecies Relations

Wizard society is unique in its interactions with various other societies, including muggles, goblins, house-elves, giants, mermaids, centaurs, and more. They also have marginalized groups within wizard society, such as werewolves (whoa re victims of a disease) and squibs (who are born into magical society but have no magical ability). And they have notoriously mismanaged some of these relationships, leading to some of these groups understandably siding with Voldemort in the wars. Wizards are really colonialist when you think about it, prioritizing their own sense of right and wrong and dehumanizing other intelligent groups to excuse ignoring their rights. For example, wizards believing that Godric Gryffindor and his heirs rightfully own the sword of Gryffindor when Goblin rules of morality dictate that it belongs to them who built it. There is a conflict of moral systems between these two cultures and a need for education to teach students about other culture’s moral systems in order to understand how to interact respectfully with those cultures. Another example is Dolores Umbridge treating centaurs as being subject to wizard law when, from the perspective of the centaurs, they are their own nation who never agreed to be part of wizard society. Wizards believe they have the right to override the laws of other groups, reminiscent of real life instances where one group conquers another group’s land without permission and declares that group is now subject to their laws, completely ignoring government systems that were already in place (an example of this is Canadian and U.S. governments ignoring the pre-existing indigenous nations. But it is not only white people, other races of people have done this throughout history). It is important for students to be taught the perspectives of other cultures and learn to recognize that those perspectives are equally as valid as wizard perspectives. Other cultures need to start being treated with more respect by wizards (and by people in our world too).

Hogwarts should have an elective course, beginning in year three, that discusses other species and the historical harm wizards have done to them. There needs to be a unit about each group, their systems of morality, and their historical relationship to wizards. Students should then use this to think about path forward in treating these groups with the respect they deserve. There should also be a unit on the rights of werewolves, wizards who have been oppressed because they have a disease. Instead of allowing werewolves to treat the disease, wizards have made them feel like they cannot safely admit to having it. Forcing werewolves to hide it is actually more dangerous for everyone involved, as it deprives them of the chance to safely get treatment to protect others from themselves. Werewolves should be given free treatment to live normal lives. The rights of squibs should also be addressed. The History of Magic course, which already needs revamping anyway, could be revamped to include some this material, but a course diving more deeply into it could also be useful. 

This course should include essays for each unit and an OWL and NEWT exam and should be a prerequisite, or at least a strongly recommended course, for working in government. 

Counselling Psychology

We should not be too surprised by the wizard world’s lack of understanding of mental health. We are still figuring it out in real life in the 2020s, and these books primarily take place in the 1990s. Still, the wizard world is in dire need of learning some psychology from the muggle world. There is absolutely no sign the psychologists, psychiatrists, or mental health professionals of any kind exist in the magical world even though our main characters could most certainly use one. Just look at all the trauma Harry Potter has been though; dead parents, raised by an abusive family, traumatic battles with evil every year, classmates and loved ones dying in front of him….need I say more? Just look at the trauma the rest of the school has been through, muggle borns fearing for their lives, the school being guarded for a year by monsters that make people depressed, and then suddenly the return of the evil wizard who is going to tear society apart just as it was recovering. Meanwhile the government officials were so terrified they handled it by being in extreme denial until too late. Cornelius Fudge needed a therapist to tell him to confront the problem instead of irrationally thinking ignoring it would make it not real. 

We will further explore the lack of counselling, and desperate need for it, at Hogwarts in later chapters but for now, I propose that Hogwarts should implement a new subject of study for third-years and above, with a curriculum developed by muggle experts, training future mental healthcare professionals. The first year of the course would be basic psychology and then later years would delve more into counselling and abnormal psychology. NEWT level years would be geared towards preparing for a career in the field. There would be an OWL and NEWT exam. The course would be required for working in this field and also considered an asset for work as a healer and other professions. 

Legal Education

The wizard world is a mess when it comes to legal ethics. Their system is unjust on multiple levels. An exhaustive list of evidence would be a multi-chapter essay on its own which I prefer to leave to someone with a law degree, but I will highlight a few of the issues; inhumane and counterproductive prison system (actively making people depressed is not going to make them come out more productive members of society), corrupt trial system where things are decided by politicians, unequal treatment of different intelligent species, and there is no evidence they even have a concept of lawyers. It was also just way too easy for a few corrupt officials to deprive muggle borns of their rights. I am of course fully aware that these issues are reflected in real life as well. However, there is an active movement towards fixing these issues in society and pushing for a more humane and fair legal system. The magical world needs to access scholars who are pushing for change in the muggle world and apply principles of restorative justice in the magical world. 

Hogwarts should implement a curriculum to train lawyers. Students should learn about fair legal procedures, legal ethics and philosophy, wizard laws, and how to make sound legal arguments to push for changes in law. The above proposed course in logic would help prepare them. Legal Education would also be a good prerequisite to government work in general. 

There should be elements of it built into History of Magic, Muggle Studies, and the above proposed course on Interspecies Relations. Legal education should also be its own course, either beginning as an elective in Year Three, or as a specialized career training course in NEWT years, for aspiring lawyers. Passing a NEWT exam in this course should be a prerequisite to being a lawyer. This brings me to other courses I propose be offered at NEWT level for career preparation. 

Career Preparation Courses

Given the lack of post-secondary school in wizard society, I would expect there to be NEWT level electives geared towards preparation for certain careers. These would be offered to students considering those careers and taking other prerequisites to said careers. Some students would not need to take any specialized career prep courses. Those seeking to be aurors, for example, would already have this need fulfilled in Defence Against The Dark Arts. But some careers ought to have unique preparation courses offered exclusively at NEWT level. Most students would likely take 1-2 of these, depending on career plans and personal interests. 

Pre-Healing

In the wizarding world, people called healers are the equivalent to doctors. The prerequisites to becoming a healer is NEWTs (with an E or higher, which is equivalent to B or higher in the American grading system) in Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defence Against The Dark Arts. After Hogwarts, healers get on the job training. In real life, most doctors (in Canada at least, where my sister is currently a doctor) do a university degree, take a medical school aptitude test, do a degree in medicine (which includes two years of classwork and lab work followed by two years of practical experience) and then begin on the job training for a specialty. It feels very strange to me that the only prerequisites to becoming a healer are Hogwarts general courses in variety of magical subjects. It sounds to me like the equivalent to if the only prerequisites to being a doctor were a B or higher in highscool Biology and Chemistry. Highshcool courses are general and not meant to prepare you to go directly into such an intense job that requires a lot of specialized training. Therefore, I think Hogwarts should offer a course geared specifically towards preparing students for a potential career in healing. It should be a two year course offered to NEWT level students (years 6 and 7) who are considering career as a healer and who are taking the other five prerequisite NEWT level classes. Students would not come out of this class as fully trained healers, but they would come out of it more prepared for training as healers. 

Topics covered in this course would include human physiology, physiology of other species, uses of medicinal plants and potions, magical illnesses and treatments, clinical skills, and healing spells. While some of these topics are likely covered in other classes, this course would focus more heavily on them. Herbology likely already has units on plants with medicinal properties, but this class would focus more heavily on exploring the medicinal uses of such plants, in a way that is not covered in general Herbology. The course would be best taught by a professional healer. It would have a NEWT exam students need to pass to become healers. 

Entrepreneurship

A career that a lot witches and wizards go into in creating businesses, often with magical objects of their own creation. A class in that area would be very useful to learn about marketing, money management, and other things to know about starting and running a business. This would have been quite useful for the Weasley twins. In fact, I think George Weasley would be a good person to teach this class after the war ends. Students could learn to be creative, innovate (which I think should be emphasized at NEWT level anyway), and use outside the box thinking productively. The class could also be an opportunity for students to meet a variety of other entrepreneurs by having them do guest lectures. 

I would not have any specific pre-requisites. It would be a flexible course that students can begin in year five or six and finish in year six or seven. Of course students would be encouraged to take classes related to the specific type of products they wish to create or sell. The aforementioned Magical Technology course would also be recommended. This course would not be required for a career in entrepreneurship, but passing the NEWT exam would give students a credential that could help them get jobs in the field and the class can also help them get connected to potential mentors.

Ministry of Magic

Another optional course at NEWT level should be a course designed for preparing people who wish to work in government. It should teach students about the structure of the ministry of magic and have units about the responsibilities of each department. I would not have any specific prerequisites but those wishing to work in the ministry of magic should choose courses prior to this based on which department they wish to work for. For law enforcement, for example, Defence Against the Dark Arts is very important. For some departments, Muggle Studies is important. Students would have to pass the NEWT exam to work for the Ministry. 

Other Career Preparation courses

There are some other careers that would be useful to have NEWT level courses to prepare students for. One career option is journalism. According to canon information, Ginny Weasley eventually becomes a sports journalist. Lee Jordan becomes a radio news show host for the rebellion in book 7. Of course we would like to see a journalism course teach students to be professionally responsible and not print lies like Rita Skeeter does. They could also use help learning to write news articles, since the general curriculum does not include language arts. They also need to learn to think about social issues and how to write about them. I would recommend the aforementioned creative writing and interspecies relations courses mentioned above as prerequisites to a journalism course, as well as an OWL in History of Magic. 

It is unclear whether engineers or architects exist in the magical world. It would definitely be useful for some type of magical profession to exist that are experts on upkeep of buildings, just look at The Burrow and how it appears to barely be held together. Even with magic, there ought to be witches and wizards with knowledge on how to us that magic most effectively to hold together materials that buildings are made from. The magical technology course I mentioned above would be a good prerequisite. Students would also have to learn relevant math (specifically geometry) and physics (specifically the properties of various materials, weight and balance, etc..) and how to use magic alongside science to efficiently build things. I imagine it would be a practical course. 

Summary

Hogwarts focus, in canon, is primarily teaching students how to perform magic. It is vital to have core subjects that teach this, yet it is also important to teach students to navigate various other aspects of life in the wizarding world. The difficulty is how to do both without overwhelming them. Though I tried to be conscious not to put too much work on these hypothetical students, I fear my proposed changes do force students to take around twelve courses some years (which is how many Hermione Granger canonically did in year three and it was too much even with the time-turner). I am uncertain how to resolve this problem. My proposed courses are not as overwhelming as they may initially seem though, considering some of the fundamental ones are not full-year courses. Most courses I propose not be for every year. The NEWT level courses I proposed, most students would only do 1-2 of and some would not need to do any. At NEWT level, they have parred down their number of courses anyway. The only course I suggest be added to the core courses is Magic Theory. Though, in my previous chapter, I also suggested Muggle Studies be required. Even if that still starts at year three, that makes nine core courses plus some required non-academic courses (Flying and and Sexual Education) and a course I suggested be required in early years (Logic). Some courses I suggested be added to the list of electives that start in year three, which brings us up to nine electives (if we make Muggle Studies required) and I think students should be allowed to do more than 2-3 of those but I am not sure how to do so without it being too much. On top of that, I have also proposed they be required to take at least one one-year arts and culture type course at some point in their Hogwarts careers. I am not sure how to implement all of this this without it being too much. Under my proposed changes first years take the core classes plus Flying and Logic, second years take the core classes plus Logic and Sexual Education, third years take the core classes plus Sexual Education and 2 or more electives, fourth and fifth years take core classes and electives (maybe a good time to take one of the arts and culture courses), and NEWT students continue some core courses and electives plus possibly 1-2 new electives. Year three may be the busiest. I am not sure how to solve the issue of some years having too much work, perhaps some classes need to have less work. Perhaps electives could be set up so that some are in the first half of the year and others are in the second half. Perhaps some of my suggested electives could be combined (for instance, interspecies relations and legal ethics being worked into History of Magic, which needs revamping anyway). 

In any case, my proposed courses do reflect things I believe are needed in magical society and many of them also have relevance to real life education. These are important topics to consider in education in general and I hope those reading this have learned something about the rationale behind choosing educational requirements. 

In the next chapter, we will be grading the Hogwarts professors based on the OWL grading system from the books. Subsequent chapters will discuss extra-curricular activities and resources, including proposed ones, and other issues with the structure of Hogwarts and what students learn from it.

Chapter Text

In this chapter, we will be evaluating the teachers at Hogwarts and grading them based on several criteria. I will assign each one a grade for each area of teaching and an overall grade. These areas of teaching will be; teaching methods, classroom management (including relations with students), ethics and safety, and knowledge/passion for the subject they teach. The books give us less information on some teachers than others. Therefore, for the teachers we have less information on I will just write brief paragraphs that attempt to cover all the criteria rather than a separate grade for each category. Instead of traditional grading systems like we have in real life, I will use the grading system used for the OWL exams in the books. As a reminder, passing grades, from lowest to highest, are A for acceptable, E for exceeds expectations, and O for outstanding. Failing grades, from highest to lowest, are P for poor, D for dreadful, and T for troll. I am not sure why it would matter, for academic grading, to specify the extent to which someone failed but for our purposes here I enjoy being able to express varying degrees of how bad some of the teachers are. 

The teachers we talk about here will only be ones who taught at Hogwarts during the timeframe in which books 1-6 take place. Although other media, such as video games, depict teachers at other points in Hogwarts history, I am not comfortable discussing a piece of media in depth that I did not experience firsthand. While I sometimes reference the video games and other media in this essay, it is primarily based on the book series. Due to insufficient information, the following teachers will not be discussed: Bathsheba Babbling (Ancient Runes), Charity Burbage (Muggle Studies), Aurora Sinistra (Astronomy), and Septima Vector (Arithmancy). 

Before diving in, I feel a need to be transparent about the fact that I have no experience actually being a classroom teacher. Ordinarily, someone with a master’s degree in education would have experience as a teacher. My intent originally was to become a primary or elementary school teacher but, for various reasons related to mental health, I decided that the classroom would not be an appropriate work environment for me. Instead of completing an internship during my undergraduate degree in education, I took extra electives. I got into a master’s degree program due to my grades and experience working as an educational consultant. I am currently doing volunteer work in the form of educational research and am seeking employment in research or consulting, with hopes to also start a business selling educational resources. The point here is that I am not a classroom teacher, which is a bit of a sensitive spot for me, and that makes judging fictional teachers slightly awkward. Experience is one of the best ways to learn and so people with actual experience teaching have insights that I do not share. This chapter would probably be more effectively written by someone with firsthand experience on the subject, and yet we have me so we must work with what we have. This will be mainly based on theoretical knowledge, with full acknowledgement that there are gaps in my knowledge due to lack of practical experience. Honestly, classroom management and discipline would probably have been the most difficult part for me about teaching, and is not something I feel the courses I took adequately prepared people for. 

Minerva McGonagall (Transfiguration)

Minerva McGonagall teaches Transfiguration at Hogwarts for many years while also being Head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress (equivalent to vice-principal). She eventually becomes Headmistress. 

McGonagall’s teaching methods are pretty standard at Hogwarts. She demonstrates spells and then gives students guided practice, providing feedback to them as they practice. She focuses on the positive. For instance, when teaching how to turn matchsticks into needles, she uses Hermione Granger as a positive example to encourage other students to do as she does. Form what we see of her classes, she is good at being encouraging while also having very high standards. She also appears to have a high success rate in helping students pass exams. For teaching methods, I give McGonagall an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For classroom management and discipline McGonagall is a very strict disciplinarian. Sometimes I find her overly strict and her punishments a bit disproportionate, for example taking one hundred and fifty house points for students being out of bed. On the other hand, she has moments where she is not strict enough. For example, when Harry Potter rides his broomstick unsupervised when he is not supposed to, she effectively rewards him by recruiting him for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and bends the rules to get him his own broomstick, all because she wants to win at Quidditch. This shows that McGonagall is human and prone to sometimes going against her own morals for personal gain. This is, however, a rare occurrence for her and she is mostly very consistent and avoids playing favourites. When students misbehave, she generally punishes all of them equally regardless which house they are in or whether she likes them personally. Although she is a bit overly strict, she is mostly consistent and she also has good relationships with her students and cares about them deeply. She is among the teachers who work to protect students from dangerous people like Umbridge and the Carrows. Students know that McGonagall wants what is best for them. She successfully walks a fine line where she is able to strictly discipline students but also have them like her, commanding genuine respect and not just fear. Strict discipline makes students obey teachers when they are watching, but for students to still obey when the teacher is not watching requires them to actually respect the teacher. McGonagall succeeds in getting students to behave due to a healthy balance between fear of consequences and respect for a teacher who nurtures them. I wanted to give her an O for Outstanding but there are some decisions of hers I do not agree with, which I will discuss in more detail in a later chapter, and so for discipline and classroom management I give McGonagall an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For safety and ethics there is little to say. McGonagall is one of the teachers who has been at it long enough to know what she is doing. The subject she teaches naturally involves some degree of danger but she knows how to handle when things go wrong and proactively teaches students how to undo mistakes. I question the ethics of turning animals into objects but I think we are meant to assume the spells are reversed later. I do not think McGonagall or her students would be okay with making kittens vanish if it was not undone afterwards. For safety and ethics, I again give her an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For knowledge and passion for the subject, McGonagall gains points for becoming an animagus, one of the most difficult feats in transfiguration. It shows great interest in the subject and dedication to it. She has been teaching the subject for many years and has vast knowledge of it, even beyond the standard curriculum. For knowledge and passion for the subject, I give her an O for Outstanding. 

I give McGonagall an overall grade of E for Exceeds Expectations. She is one of the better Hogwarts teachers who has been there a long time and knows what she is doing. She knows the material and teaches it well and she also loves her students. Even though she is very strict, her students still know she cares about them and they are very receptive to learning from her. 

Severus Snape (Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Before getting into the most controversial and divisive character in the Harry Potter franchise, I would like to remind everyone that is strictly about Professor Snape’s performance as a teacher, not Severus Snape as a person or as a double agent in the war, not his role as a character in the wider plot of the series, only his performance as a teacher. Severus Snape teaches Potions for many years and then Defence Against the Dark Arts for one year. He also becomes Headmaster for one year. Defence Against the Dark Arts is his favourite subject and the one he always wanted to teach but he settled for teaching Potions when he could not get his preferred position. He was also head of Slytherin house. 

Professor Snape’s teaching methods in Potions involve writing instructions on the board and demanding students follow precisely. He offers little to no assistance to students who are struggling with their work. He only praises good work in students he favours. Students he dislikes receive constant criticism of their work. Although it is important to tell students when they make mistakes, it is also important to explain to the how to improve. It is important to offer students encouragement when they do things incorrectly and praise who they do things correctly. Merely criticizing students for incorrect work does little to nothing to help them improve their work. A good teacher goes around the room and checks student progress so that they may correct incorrect work by offering constructive advice on improvement. Snape, instead, goes around the room to harshly chastise students for any small mistake. This is discouraging and unhelpful. It causes students to not want to attend class or attempt to do the work. Ultimately, students who Snape favours are able to safely learn but those he does not favour are at a disadvantage and afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. He provides good instructions but does not help students understand why the instructions work, he teaches the process without teaching students to understand it. Although Snape’s methods in teaching potions are lacking, students have good things to say about his teaching methods when he finally gets the job he wants of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. As a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, he uses practical demonstrations and personal experiences to engage students interest as well as prepare them for the harsh realities of the dark arts. His Defence Against the Dark Arts classes are interactive and enjoyable while also useful. For teaching methods in Potions, I give Professor Snape a D for Dreadful. Points for applying the strategy of putting the instructions on the board and allowing independent practice, as opposed to walking students through step by step. Negative points for focusing on criticism without offering help to improve techniques. For teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, I give him an E for Exceeds Expectations. These average out somewhere around P for Poor or A for Acceptable. 

Of course we are not finished discussing professor Snape’s mistreatment of students. When it comes to classroom management and discipline, Snape is often blatantly unjust towards students he dislikes. At one point, when Neville Longbottom makes a mistake, Snape unfairly chastises Harry Potter as though it was somehow Potter’s responsibility to instruct Longbottom. Snape also looks for excuses to deduct house points from students he dislikes. Snape also applies punishments that can do sever psychological damage to students. At one point, for example, he tests a potion on a student’s pet toad, knowing it could be fatal. Even if he did not intend for the toad to die, the mere threat of it can be psychologically scarring for a student. This type of abuse should not be allowed in a school. To make matters worse, he is not punishing Longbottom for breaking a rule, he is punishing Longbottom for making mistakes in his work. Mistakes in work should not be punished, this makes students afraid to try and inhibits learning. The threat also did nothing to help Longbottom learn to brew the potion correctly and made it so he was forced to cheat to save his pet. By forcing students to break the rules, this method of discipline was counterproductive as well as abusive. It made Longbottom resort to having the work done for him rather than learning. Snape also applies discipline unequally, favouring some students over others. At one point, for instance, a fight occurs between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, physically injuring Gregory Goyle and Hermione Granger. Snape sends Goyle to the hospital wing but overlooks Granger’s magical injury. When Harry Potter and Ron Weasley argue with him, Snape punishes both of them with detention and deduction of points from Gryffindor, while not punishing Malfoy at all for his involvement in the fight. Slytherin students get away with fighting in class but Gryffindor students do not. For classroom management, I give Snape a D for Dreadful. His students may be technically well-behaved and on task, but only because they are in constant fear. They have no room for error and no reason to expect to be treated fairly. Discipline is inconsistent, extremely harsh and psychologically damaging at times, randomly applied to disfavoured students, and rarely if ever applied to favoured students. 

Yet we are still not finished discussing Professor Snape’s abusive behaviour towards students. Snape constantly belittle students he dislikes, in particular Neville Longbottom. He constantly berates Longbottom, calling him an idiot and otherwise insinuating he is stupid with language like “what do I have to do to get it through your thick skull?” There are also very extreme cases of it such as the aforementioned threatening Longbottom’s pet. He also causes Hermione Granger emotional upset by callously overlooking her teeth growing as a result of a hex, saying it looks no different than normal. He insults the appearance of a teenage girl who is already self-conscious about such things. On another occasion, he calls Granger an insufferable know-it-all. During the first day of classes, he singles out Harry Potter and belittles him for not knowing everything from the textbooks yet. When he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts, he belittles Potter’s answers to questions about ghouls and ghosts, saying his answers were obvious and show he had learned little in his education. This type of abuse, towards children aged 11-18 whose brains are in a critical stage of development, can have long lasting damage. A person who behaves this way towards children and teenagers simply should not be allowed to work with children and teenagers, especially not in a position of power and authority over them. He causes students to feel frightened, helpless, and doubt themselves. Snape enjoys tormenting students as catharsis for his own trauma. He is making a conscious choice to take his pain out on innocent children who cannot defend themselves. This is also in a class where students are using and combining dangerous substances and mistakes can be a safety hazard. When students do not feel that they can safely inform the teacher of any mistakes, it puts them all in more danger than necessary. They need to be able to inform the teacher of any potential danger so he can address it, but they are afraid to do so because of his harsh punishments and abuse. Being somewhat strict in a class with hazardous materials is necessary, but being so strict that students cannot safely alert you to danger defeats the purpose of being strict about safety. For ethics and safety, I give Snape a T for troll. He is the absolute worst regarding ethical teaching because his psychological abuse of children and teens he is responsible for is inexcusable and ought to disqualify him from teaching. 

The only area of teaching in which I have mainly positive things to say about Snape is knowledge of the subject areas he teaches. The subject he always wanted to teach was Defence Against the Dark Arts. When he eventually teaches that subject, he brings knowledge and passion to it that is beneficial to the students. Potions was only his second favourite subject yet he displays in-depth knowledge and understanding of it. As a student, he made corrections to the course textbook. He already knew better than the makers of the official textbooks which shows an in-depth understanding of the subject as opposed to simply memorizing facts. What is frustrating is that the official textbooks are still not updated during Snape’s time teaching the subject. For knowledge and passion for the subjects being taught, I give Snape and O for Outstanding. It is just a shame that he did not use that talent to help students learn better in Potions. He ought to be using his understanding of how potions work to help students better understand the process, not just how to unquestioningly follow directions. 

Snape should not be allowed to have power over children and teens who are in a critical stage of development. I understand that he is allowed to teach due to Dumbledore needing him on his side in the war but that is not relevant to judging it from a purely educational standpoint. As a teacher, he does great harm to his students. If Dumbledore is unwilling to fire him, he should at least do something to intervene and prevent the abuse. This is something I am sensitive to because I know that in school I was deeply emotionally hurt by any hint of being treated unjustly and cannot imagine being able to function in Snape’s class. I think some people underestimate the psychological damage Snape would realistically do to developing minds. Although I do not think he should be allowed near students, I do think Snape deserves to be involved in education for his in-depth knowledge and understanding of his favourite subjects. I believe Snape missed his true calling as a textbook authour. He could write properly updated Potions books that would help students excel, as his notes in a textbook helped Harry Potter excel at Potions. His notes were demonstrably helpful and easy to understand. Again, that was in his second favourite subject. Think how good he could be at writing a Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook with his passion for the subject and his unique perspective as a reformed former practitioner of the dark arts. It is a shame to see such talent wasted. A man with Snape’s knowledge and skills should be designing resources for education but a man with his abusive behaviour should not directly interact with students. I give him an overall grade of P for Poor. I cannot give him a passing grade because his abuse of students should absolutely disqualify him from teaching. But I have to give him some credit because his negative traits are balanced by his knowledge and passion for the subjects he teaches. He ought to be writing textbooks instead of teaching. 

Filius Flitwick (Charms)

Filius Flitwick teaches Charms for many years and is also head of Ravenclaw House. He is very experienced by the time we meet him. We have less information about Flitwick than some of the other teachers, but enough for a short section.

Flitwick is an experienced teacher who knows what he is doing. The Wesley twins describe him as having a high success rate with regard to preparing students for exams. His teaching methods are sound, usually giving students guided practice followed by independent practice. He takes his time with teaching new concepts, spending two months teaching first years the finer points of wand movement before letting them cast spells. This helps reduce the risk of things going wrong and is a good safety measure as well as helping students more efficiently learn. By getting the fundamentals out of the way first, teachings spells presumably goes faster. When it comes to discipline, he is more laid back and forgiving than other teachers and does not punish students often. When he does, it is often in a way that is amusing but not cruel, such as making Seamus Finnegan write lines saying “I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick”. When students are slacking in work, he sometimes gives extra homework, which is more productive and conducive to learning than other forms of discipline. He is well liked by students because of his sense of fun. He allows students to play games in class sometimes. He also deeply cares for his students and was among those who protected students during the time the Carrows were in charge. He cares about students so deeply, he cried when he thought Ginny Weasley was dead. He secretly rewards Harry Potter for standing up to Umbridge. Flitwick is a teacher who is efficient at teaching and who students enjoy learning from. He knows how to balance a sense of fun with work and creating a safe and productive learning environment. He cares for students and they recognize this and respect him or it. His classroom management strategy is being laid back and allowing a bit of chaos and disorder so long as work is getting done. This is ideal for the subject he teaches, which requires students to have freedom to experiment a little. He has been doing it long enough to know it works. He is also clearly very knowledgable and passionate about the subject he teaches. I give him an overall grade of O for Outstanding. 

Pomona Sprout (Herbology)

Pomona Sprout teaches Herbology for many years and is also head of Hufflepuff house. We rarely see her lessons in much detail, but we have enough information for a short section. 

From the few lessons we see, Sprout uses sound teaching strategies by giving students hands-on experience in caring for plants. She is also safety-conscious, having students use earmuffs to protect them from being knocked out by the cries of mandrakes. In one of the films, she comes across as somewhat negligent by leaving Neville Longbottom untreated when he faints, however this does not happen in the book and so I do not consider it canon. In the books, she clearly has a good relationship with Longbottom. At one point, he is very excited to show her a plant he has. This indicates she is a caring teacher who develops good relationships with students, particularly ones who excel in the subject she teaches. She also shows her caring for her students when she advocates that Hogwarts should remain open even if only for one student. She believes Hogwarts ought to remain open as long as there are students for it to serve, even as few as one. She also speaks to Cedric Diggory’s parents to help comfort them after his death, as he was part of Hufflepuff house and she therefore knew him well. When it comes to discipline, Sprout is shown to be pretty stern but not too much. At one point she chides Harry Potter and his friends for falling behind due to talking, showing she is stern when she needs to be in order to keep students on task. She is clearly very knowledgeable of Herbology, helping care for plants at Hogwarts (such as the whomping willow) and raising mandrakes to brew the potion to unpetrify people. There is not enough information about Sprout to be sure if I am giving her the right grade but from what we do know, I think she deserves an O for Outstanding, or at the very least an E for Exceeds Expectations. She is knowledgable of Herbology, has good relationships with students, uses effective teaching methods, uses effective classroom management, and is safety-conscious. 

Cuthbert Binns (History of Magic)

Cuthbert Binns is a ghost who teaches History of Magic. It is possible that he does not realize he is dead, he just got up after death and kept doing what he was doing. 

Binns is known for being very boring teacher. His teaching style consists only of giving lectures, which are in a boring style that students struggle to pay any attention to. He does nothing to make his lectures engaging for students. He probably does not think about students. He is known for behaving s though unaware students are there and seeming surprised if they call attention to themselves. As mentioned in a previous chapter, there are numerous magical techniques he could be using to make the class more engaging. Even without magic, a good history teacher uses techniques like humour to make lectures more memorable and interesting, as well as other activities besides lecture to make history more interactive. Binns sticks to one technique that is ineffective, instead of using variety and finding techniques that work more effectively. One thing I will give Binns credit for is that one time in many years, when students ask about the chamber of secrets, he indulges. He is able to take a rare break from his usual monotonous routine, and give a lecture on something students are interested in. It is a shame students do not attempt to do this more often. If Binns were more cognizant of the presence of students and their interests, he could make an effort to make the subject engaging for them. He could vary topics to meet their interests, or at least vary his methods to meet their needs. For Teaching methods I give Binns a D for dreadful. The only thing that saves him from a lower grade is that one shining moment where he actually engages with students and teaches something they are interested in. Overall, he fails at teaching because he makes no effort to do the very easy things he could to make the content more engaging.

In terms of discipline, we never see Binns disciplining students because he shows no awareness they are even there. While Snape is cruel, Binns is negligent. Instead of being overly harsh, he is indifferent. Indifference is also harmful in a different way. If students do not sense the teacher cares what they do, then the students are less inclined to care. Students in Binns’ classes are technically well behaved in that they are not doing anything majorly disruptive to others, but they are also not on task. They are not paying attention to what they should be doing and most of them do not care if they are learning in that class. They spend the class quietly distracting themselves. Binns fails at his responsibility to keep students engaged and guide them to do what they are supposed to be doing in class. He is simply not monitoring them because he does not care. He has no relationship with his students. For classroom management I give Binns a P for poor. Classroom management is not just about keeping the students quiet and peaceful, it is about keeping them on task and engaged in their learning. Binns fails to do the bare minimum and watch what his students are doing. 

For ethics and safety there is little to say about Binns. By nature, his class is one of the safer ones at Hogwarts. He does not do anything particularly unethical, but he certainly could do more to ensure the important information he teaches actually gets learned. The class should get students thinking about ethics in government and interspecies relations but instead students fail to learn from it and societal issues continue on. But I will not blame Binns for all the issues in wizard society. He is not actively making things worse, he is just missing an opportunity to make them better. For ethics and safety, I will give him an A for acceptable. Just barely acceptable. He is not doing anything particularly unethical but he is not doing anything to go above merely acceptable. He technically meets the minimum requirements of his job. I will not give him a failing grade in this area but I will not give him praise either. 

In terms of knowledge of the subject area, Binns shows himself to be very knowledgeable of history of magic. He remembers and recites a large array of knowledge and even is able to go outside the curriculum when asked. However, he lacks the passion to get others interested in the subject. For knowledge of the subject, I will give him an E for exceeds expectations. He is very knowledgable but not good at teaching the subject. 

If we average Binns’ grades out we get somewhere between P for poor and A for acceptable. I am giving him a final grade of P for poor. He could be worse but he ultimately fails as a teacher because he fails to engage with his students and interact with them. He does not teach the subject in a way that students learn anything of value. In fairness, it may not be his fault. His failures may be part of the nature of what he is. Ghosts are not capable of growth or change and he may genuinely be trapped in an unbreakable cycle of doing his thing and not noticing others. But fault or not, Hogwarts ought to hire a better teacher for the subject. Unfortunately, it seems too few wizards are knowledgable or interested enough in the subject to replace him. Perhaps if students and staff made more attempts to interact with him, like they did when asking about the chamber of secrets, he could be trained to be a better teacher. 

Rubeus Hagrid (Care of Magical Creatures) 

Rubeus Hagrid teaches Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts, and is also groundskeeper. I know we all love Hagrid but once again I must remind everyone that I am evaluating Hagrid’s performance as a teacher. This is not about Rubeus Hagrid as a person, as Harry Potter’s friend, or as Albus Dumbledore’s trusted ally in the war against Voldemort. This is not about his overall role in the story. This is about Rubeus Hagrid’s performance as a teacher. Much of what I have to say here was already covered in a previous chapter but it still bears repeating in the context of evaluating Hagrid as a teacher. I am very sorry to those who love Hagrid but his teaching needs improvement. 

There are some positives to Hagrid’s teaching style. He provides students with very hands on experience. He allows students to learn from experience. He guides students in using trial and error to learn about the Blast-Ended Skrewts. With a safer animal, this would be a beneficial way to show them how to learn how to teach themselves how to care for an unfamiliar creature. The biggest flaw in Hagrid’s teaching style is lack of attention to what students want to learn about. In choosing which animals to teach about, he could ask the students what interests them instead of only following his own interests. Sometimes teachers cannot conform to students interests because they have to follow a standard curriculum, but Hagrid does not do this either. He does not pay attention to the curriculum and how to prepare students for exams, nor does he pay attention to what students want. He fails at both teaching students what they want to know and at preparing them for exams, rendering the class useless to the students. To his credit, he does have a few shining moments where he teaches students things they want to know. For instance, his lesson about Nifflers, in which students had a lot of fun while learning. For teaching methods, I give Hagrid a P for poor. He fails at teaching for now but I believe that more experience may improve his teaching. 

For classroom management, there is little to say. We never encounter Hagrid having many issues with this in the books. I do suspect that Hagrid would have difficulty disciplining students he considers his friends, but the issue never comes up and so we cannot judge him either way. Hagrid has some issues getting students like Malfoy to behave respectfully in his class but there is only so much a teacher can do when a student with an influential father is bullying them. It never gets excessively out of control. In general Hagrid’s students tend to be well behaved and on task so I give him an A for acceptable in classroom management. With experience, he might be able to find ways to keep students like Malfoy in line more. 

Safety and ethics is an area where I unfortunately must dock some points for Hagrid. I do not blame him for the incident in his first year of teaching where Malfoy gets injured by a hippogriff. Malfoy gets injured because he blatantly disobeys Hagrid’s instructions. The best Hagrid can do is learn from that experience how to better avoid incidents of this kind in the future. Unfortunately, the incident causes Hagrid to lose his nerve and make the class too safe. He spends most of the year teaching about flobberworms, which is safe but useless. There is such a thing as being too safe. Classes like Care of Magical Creatures naturally involve some risk. However, in his second year of teaching, Hagrid gets his nerve back and goes too far in the other direction. He breeds an illegal and dangerous creature and exposes students to it without fully understanding the risks. Learning about a new creature alongside the students can be beneficial, but there are safer ways to do it. Breeding together known dangerous creatures and having students care for them without being prepared for the risks is not the appropriate way to do this. For ethics and safety, I give Hagrid a D for dreadful. Once again, this is something I think he can improve on with experience but exposing students to illegally bred dangerous creatures with unknown risks is too irresponsible. 

For knowledge and passion for the subject matter, Hagrid displays a lot of knowledge about a variety of magical creatures and clearly has a passion for caring for them. Maybe even too much passion, as it tends to blind him to the dangers of some creatures. He has over fifty years of experience caring for a wide variety of creatures, some of which most wizards avoid.  He has a deep passion for caring for creatures, including the strange and bizarre. In some cases, he may be a little too confident in his knowledge. The skrewts were an example of overconfidence in knowing how to handle an unknown creature. For knowledge and passion, I give Hagrid an E for Exceeds Expectations. He has a lot of knowledge and passion but could do with being a little less overconfident in his knowledge and more cautious. 

Adding up these grades and averaging them out gives us somewhere between P for poor and A for acceptable. I give Hagrid an overall grade of P for poor. There are a lot of flaws in his teaching, which prevent me from giving him a passing grade, but I believe he can improve with experience. 

Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank (Care of Magical Creatures)

Wiilhelmina Grubbly-Plank is a substitute teacher for Care of Magical Creatures when Hagrid is unavailable. She is another teacher for which we have limited information and therefore can only discuss briefly. 

Grubbly-Plank’s teaching methods are similar to Hagrid’s, showing students live creatures while teaching about them. Students gain practical experience in caring for creatures. She prepares students for the standardized exams by teaching them about the creatures they will need to know about for the exams. Her lessons are useful for passing the exams as well as being interesting to students. She has a high approval rating from her students. She helps heal Harry Potter’s pet owl when injured, which shows caring for her students as well as showing knowledge and skills of animal care. I give her an overall grade of E for Exceeds Expectations. Her lessons are useful and engaging. She is very knowledgable of the subject she teaches and cares for her students. 

Sybil Trelawney (Divination)

Sybil Trelawney teaches Divination at Hogwarts for many years. Although Umbridge fires her, she is re-hired by Dumbledore the following year and continues to teach alongside Firenze. I find her a difficult teacher to discuss because I find the subject itself flawed, as I explain in a previous chapter. Both the students and the teacher have an expectation placed upon them to do something most wizards legitimately cannot do. When Trelawney does make genuine predictions for the future, it is not by using the methods she teaches. The content of the course is, according to some, not legitimate magic at all. Yet the way Trelawney teaches it is in line with the standards set by the wider wizard community, as evidenced by the content of the OWL exam. The contents of the course may be inaccurate but I do not blame this solely on Trelawney, it is the wider wizard community that has inaccurate ideas of divination. She is as knowledgable as other supposed experts in her field. 

In terms of teaching methods, Trelawney’s methods are pretty standard. She provides the necessary tools and guides students in how to use them. Students are unsuccessful in actually seeing into the future but I do not feel I can blame Trelawney for being ineffective, since most wizards cannot see into the future no matter what they do. If the things she taught were legitimate ways to see into the future, I believe her methods would work perfectly fine in helping students do so. For teaching methods, I give her an A for Acceptable. 

For classroom management and discipline there is not much to say as we do not see Trelawney have any issues in this area. We do see Hermione Granger of all people have a slight outburst in class, which Trelawney responds to with very discouraging remarks, calling Granger a mundane mind. This is not a very professional way to handle it. If this is how Trelawney usually handles outbursts in class, that is not ideal. However, I think this is too small of a sample to properly judge Trelawney’s classroom management. Overall, we see almost no issues arise in her class and so I give her an A for Acceptable in classroom management. 

For ethics and safety, I must dock some points. Trelawney’s class is safe enough but there are issues with her relations with students. Her habit of predicting someone will die during the first class of every year is potentially frightening and traumatic for students. In particular, her prediction that Harry Potter would die was in very poor taste given it was widely believed that there was a mass murderer out to kill him. Thirteen year olds who believe she is making legitimate predictions are easily spooked by this sort of thing and it can be detrimental to their health. She also went through a period where she often came to class intoxicated. This was largely due to stress caused by Umbridge’s scrutiny but still is not an appropriate thing for a teacher to do. For ethics and safety, I give Trelawney a P for Poor. 

Knowledge and passion for the subject is a tricky thing to discuss for Trelawney. Her knowledge of the subject is in line with what supposed experts in the wizarding world believe. This body of knowledge may actually be inaccurate, but it is nonetheless believed by the people who set the standardized exams. I do not feel Trelawney is to blame for her lack of knowledge when her knowledge is accurate to what she has been taught. She has a reputation for being a fraud because she makes false predictions she claims are real. She can legitimately see into the future but she does not know she can. She cannot do it on command and is not consciously aware of it when she does. I hesitate to label her as a fraud because she really ought not to be expected to make predictions on command, as it is not something that can be taught or learned. As I said in a previous chapter, Divination ought to be treated as a theoretical course because it cannot actually be taught. Still, Trelawney is guilty of pretending to have greater knowledge and ability than she does in the subject. Teachers should be honest about their ability level. By pretending to know more than she does and pretending to have abilities beyond what she actually does, she has to lie when asked questions. This is detrimental to students learning. I give her some credit for clearly being passionate about the subject. Overall, for knowledge and passion I give her a P for Poor. A fail but not and extreme fail. She gets points for effort. 

I give Trelawney and overall grade of A for Acceptable. Just barely a pass. I would feel bad giving her a failing grade because it is not her fault the subject she teaches is nonsense. However, it is her fault when she acts unprofessionally and scares children by predicting their deaths so she gets a low grade overall. 

Firenze (Divination) 

Firenze is a centaur who teaches Divination at Hogwarts. He is originally hired to replace Trelawney but they later end up co-teaching the class. He is another teacher for whom we can only discuss briefly, due to scarce information on his teaching. 

We only see Firenze’s first lesson in detail. Rather than following the standard curriculum, he brings the knowledge and wisdom of his culture to the subject. He is shown to be very patient and does not get angry when student Dean Thomas inadvertently offends him by asking of centaurs are bred like animals. He answers Thomas’ question in a way that gently corrects his misconceptions about centaurs. Firenze’s lesson is engaging for the students and covers topics such as astronomy and fire omens. He corrects misconceptions they may have been taught previously and shows them how complex and imprecise Divination is, contrary to what wizards believe. Whether his approach is good depends on your priority. He is likely not doing much to prepare students for standardized exams set by wizards. These exams probably follow the beliefs and assumptions Firenze is teaching against. However, his lessons may be demonstrating exactly why reliance on standardized exams is flawed. He is giving students something more valuable by sharing his cultural knowledge and wisdom which many generations of wizards have missed out on. He is adding something to the curriculum that has been missing and demonstrating the value of cultural exchange, adding diverse voices to the curriculum. Ethically, I think this is a very valuable thing to Hogwarts’ education. Unfortunately, standardized exams and standardized curriculum can get in the way of educational progress. From what we know of Firenze, I give him an E for Exceeds Expectations. His lessons are engaging and eye-opening for students, bringing a new perspective to the subject. He can come off a bit condescending towards wizards but he ultimately gets along well with students and when he is insulted he stands up for himself without losing his temper. 

Horace Slughorn (Potions)

Horace Slughorn teaches Potions at Hogwarts for many years, retires for a while, then returns. Though he has self-centred tendencies, he is one of the nicer teachers at Hogwarts.

Slughorn’s teaching methods aim to make learning fun. He sometimes offers prizes as an incentive for doing well in class, a good motivator for students. He has a friendly demeanour  and interacts a lot with his students, encouraging them to do their best. He has a good sense of fun, at one point instructing students to make something fun during class. Rather than criticizing students when they do bad, he celebrates students successes. He uses good relations with the other teaches to gather resources for his students. For teaching methods, I give Slughorn an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For classroom management, we never see Slughorn encounter difficulties. Even though he is less strict than Snape, his methods still work to create a well ordered class. He has good relationships with his students and they enjoy his class. He does show favouritism to some students but the favouritism its largely confined to activities outside of class, like inviting his favourites to parties. Inside the classroom, he treats everyone fairly and does not abuse the students he disfavours. He is also willing to help students in need, like when he helps cure Ron Weasley of the effects of a love potion at night. He is one of the teachers who helps protect students from abuse during the year the Carrows are in charge. For this area, I give him an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For ethics and safety, Slughorn has some flaws. He plays favourites and ignores students who he does not think are talented. While this is helpful to some students, it can be discouraging for those he doesn't favour. Still he gives some help to all students and tends to treat them fairly in class. He is more laid back than Snape, which helps students feel at ease, but this also means his safety standards are slightly lower. He doe snot always know what to do when a problem arises. For instance, when Ron Weasley is accidentally poisoned in front of Slughorn, he fails to react quickly enough to save him. Someone with Slughorn’s amount of experience should be able to react more quickly in an emergency. Still overall, there were no major injuries in his class. For ethics and safety, I give him an A for Acceptable. Flawed but not enough to fail. 

For knowledge and passion for the subject, Slughorn has many years of experience and is quite a knowledgable potion maker.  He knows how to make complicated potions like the Felix Felicies and teaches about complex theoretical concepts like Gopalott’s third law. He is very enthusiastic about the subject. However, there seem to be some gaps with his skills. For example, he did not think of using the bezoar when needed. He also uses outdated instructions and does not possess the skills Snape does to improve upon the instructions. For knowledge and passion for the subject, I give and E for Exceeds Expectations. His skills are not exceptional but they are highly sufficient for teaching. 

I give Slughorn an overall grade fo E for Exceeds Expectations. He is imperfect and plays favourites but overall is an effective teacher who is all liked by students and makes them enjoy and look forward to learning. 

Quirinus Quirell (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Quirenus Quirell teaches Muggle Studies for many years and then taught Defence Against The Dark Arts for one year. Despite playing a pivotal role in the plot of the first book, we know very little about Quirell as a teacher and so can only briefly discuss him. 

Quirell’s lessons are described as being “a bit of a joke” from the perspective of his students. It seems his lack of confidence makes it difficult for students to take him seriously. Still he seems to teach the first year curriculum competently enough and have sufficient knowledge of the subject. He is able to handle mountain trolls, sneaking one into the castle at one point and also defeating the one he placed to guard the Philosopher’s Stone. This demonstrates competency in defence against dangerous creatures. He is not the best teacher we have seen teach the subject but not the worst either. With the little information we have, I would guess his teaching skills deserve an A for Acceptable. However, I feel I must subtract some points for actively trying to murder a student outside of class time and also for endangering all of his students by bringing a mountain troll into the school in an uncontrolled setting. For his intentional reckless endangerment of students, I bring him down to a P for Poor. 

Gilderoy Lockhart (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Gilderoy Lockhart teaches Defect Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts for one year. He is a famous author of a series of books about how he allegedly fought various monsters. However, he is actually a fraud and takes credit for things other wizards did before he wiped their memories. Let us take a look at how he does as a teacher. 

Lockhart’s teaching methods are quite lacking. He teaches nothing useful. On the first day, he gives students a quiz on his books about himself. The questions are on Lockhart and things like what his favourite colour is, rather than things useful for defence against the dark arts. He attempts one practical lesson by setting pixies loose but has no idea how to handle them. Losing his nerve, her then removes practical elements from his classes and proceeds to teach out of the books he wrote and re-enact parts. Defence Against the Dark Arts is a subject that requires some degree of practical experience in a controlled environment. Lockhart lacks the competence to do this and so should not be teaching this subject. Even his theoretical teachings are useless to students due to his focus on bragging about himself and his lack of knowledge of the subject. For teaching methods, I give him a D for Dreadful. He is basically useless but I give some points for attempting a practical demonstration once.  

For classroom management, there is little to say. We do not see him having any major issues in this area. At on point he supervises Harry Potter in detention and make him help answer fan mail. Hilariously, he thinks he is letting Potter off easy when Potter actually finds this very punishing. His attempt to let Potter off easily for a major breach of rules shows favouritism though, which I must subtract points for. Still, his classes run smoothly overall. For classroom management and discipline, I give him an A for acceptable. 

When it comes to safety, Lockhart does not have the skills required to keep students safe in this type of class. He is irresponsible and leaves second-year students to round up the pixies he could not handle. To his credit, he realizes he cannot handle the dangerous parts of the job and he keeps students safe by no longer exposing them to any danger. This is not ethical though because it prevents students from learning to protect themselves. This is a class where some level of danger is expected and necessary. If he could not handle the danger effectively, he should not have taken the job. For ethics and safety, I give him a P for Poor. 

For knowledge of the subject matter, Lockhart is entirely incompetent. One would think an authour of several books on the subject would be knowledgable but he apparently paid very little attention to the techniques of the people he wrote about and was too focused on making himself look heroic. He shows very little understanding of the defensive techniques of the people he writes about. He could be a much better teacher if he were honest about his level of knowledge. Lockhart is very insecure and covers this up by pretending to know everything. A good teacher admits when he does not know something and helps the student find the information. If Lockhart were upfront about his books being about other people, honest about not having firsthand knowledge, he could more effectively teach what he does know and openly say that there are things he does not know because it is secondhand accounts. By pretending to know more than he does, he makes things up and that gets in the way of students learning what is true and what is not. He could be well respected as a biographer if he were only honest and did not exaggerate his achievements. He could learn from the people he interviews and pass useful information along. Instead, he is too arrogant and insists on pretending he experienced everything firsthand and then is forced to make things up when questioned. For knowledge of the subject, I give him a T for Troll. 

As noted in my previous chapter, Lockhart could be a great teacher if he were teaching subject like Literature, Creative Writing, or Drama. But for Defence Against the Dark Arts, he is completely out of his element. He ought to stick to what he is good at, such as creative writing, and not try to convince people he is good at things he is not. I give him an overall grade of D for Dreadful. He lacks knowledge or skills to teach the subject he is supposed to be teaching. He simply has no business teaching the subject of Defence Against the Dark Arts. 

Remus Lupin (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Remus Lupin teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts for one year but deserved to teach it for longer. He is highly praised by his students but unfortunately had to resign due to prejudices against werewolves. 

Lupin’s teaching methods are excellent. In the first class we see him teach, he teaches students how to handle a boggart. He explains the technique and guides one student through it in order to demonstrate it to the class. He then allows each student to practice the technique, one at a time. This is an excellent method of teaching practical skills, guided practice followed by independent practice. He is very encouraging and gives helpful feedback to his students. Throughout the year, Lupin continues to give students hands on experience with various creatures. His lessons are engaging and students learn a lot from him. He uses gradual exposure to dangerous creatures, not making students do more than they an handle. He also gives Harry Potter private lessons in fighting dementors, during which he is very kind and gives constructive feedback to help him along. For a final exam, he sets up an obstacle course for students to demonstrate what they have learned about various creatures, a fun and yet practical way to show what they have learned, Lupin is the type of teacher students are excited to learn from and who they seek to impress. He is very encouraging, kind, and makes learning exciting. For teaching methods, I give Lupin and O for Outstanding. 

For classroom management and discipline, we never see Lupin encounter any major issues. Students are very engaged during his classes and so there is probably very little mischief or need to direct students back on track. At one point, we do see him discipline Harry Potter outside of class, when he confiscates the Maurader’s Map. He believes this to be necessary for Potter’s safety. This shows that he is willing to be strict even with his favourite students when necessary. It is important for teachers to be willing to exert authority when necessary for student safety, even if it upsets the student. He does give the map back eventually but by this time he believes the danger is passed, and he is also no longer a teacher at this point and therefore no longe bound by rules of professionalism. It actually shows that he takes his position as a teacher seriously enough to follow rules he may not otherwise. Overall, I give him an O for Outstanding in this category as well, his lessons are engaging enough to have little need for discipline. This is a form of proactive discipline, by preventing issues form arising. He also shows willingness to be strict when necessary, even towards his favourite students. 

For safety and ethics, we must remember that the subject Lupin teaches is dangerous by nature. His job is to prepare students for danger in a relatively safe environment. He does an excellent job of giving students the tools they need to protect themselves in the future and does so in as safe of an environment as he reasonably can. He helps students familiarize themselves with dangerous creatures in a relatively safe and controlled environment so that they are prepared to face them out in the real world. If danger arises in the classroom, he is prepared to deal with it. When he fears the boggart will turn into Voldemort, he is proactive at preventing this. Some believe that it is dangerous for a werewolf to be around children, but Lupin takes the proper precautions to avoid this being a problem. For safety and ethics, I give Lupin an O for Outstanding.

For knowledge and passion for the subject he teaches, Lupin continues to show excellence. He is very knowledgable about each creature he teaches about and how to handle them. He not only has theoretical knowledge, but practical skills he passes on to his students. For knowledge and passion for the subject, I once again given Lupin an O for Outstanding.

Lupin may very well be the best Hogwarts teacher we see and it is a shame that prejudices against werewolves (and the curse on the position of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts) prevented him from being able to teach for more than a year. Lupin’s teaching methods are exceptional at helping students learn what they need. He teaches a dangerous subject with just the right balance of danger and caution. He is well liked by students but strict if he needs to be. His lessons are memorable and enjoyable while also being useful. I give Lupin and overall grad of O for Outstanding. 

Bartemis Crouch Jr (impersonating Alastor Moody; Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Bartemis Crouch Jr was a convicted criminal, long presumed dead, who impersonated Alastor Moody for a year and taught Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. He is a complicated teacher to talk about. He really was not supposed to be teaching and his true identity as a dangerous criminal sometimes showed through, yet in many ways he did a decent job as a teacher. I do not want to seem like I condone a dangerous criminal impersonating a teacher. It should not have been allowed to happen. Still, given that it did happen, we must examine how Crouch did as a teacher, for better or for worse. There are both negative and positive aspects to his teaching. 

Prior to teaching, Crouch contacted the previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to get an idea of his students prior learning, a useful thing to do in order to help students draw upon their prior learning and to discern what they already know and what they still need to work on. He also activates prior learning by asking students to name the unforgivable curses. In his first lesson with the fourth year students, Crouch demonstrates the three unforgivable curses by using them on spiders. He notes that he is not really supposed to show them the curses at this stage in their education but reasons that they need to see what they are up against in order to fight it. Crouch teaches students how to fight these curses and uses the imperious curse on students to teach them to resist it. This is a questionable decision from an ethical standpoint but it is useful for students in learning to defend themselves. Overall, Crouch’s teaching methods are effective in helping students learn defence against dark magic, as is the purpose of the class. For teaching methods, I give Crouch an E for Exceeds Expectations. He ultimately helps his students prepare for fighting dark magic but his methods may be a little extreme.

For classroom management, Crouch does a decent job. He has a magical eye that enables him to monitor the classroom more than most teachers, so he can quickly correct any misbehaviour. Students are kind of afraid of him. While he is technically good at classroom management, students are off-put by him and he therefore does not develop connections with students. Of course he is a secret criminal with little social experience so naturally he does not get along easily with people. His demeanour kind of pushes students away. Good discipline is not just keeping students in line but also about relationships with students, which Crouch is not as good at. At one point, Crouch punishes Draco Malfoy for bullying, by turning him into a ferret. He is quickly chastised by McGonagall for improperly disciplining a student. This method of punishment is unethical and harmful to Malfoy. Malfoy’s bullying behaviour ought to be addressed by the teachers, but this is not an appropriate way. Humiliating and traumatizing Malfoy is likely to only make him even more of a bully. For discipline and classroom management, I give Crouch a P for Poor, he has some good methods but he lacks care for his students. Turning a bully into a ferret is an ineffective method of trying to change behaviour and he probably did it mainly for vengeance rather than to help students develop morally. It is one of the moments that shows the risks of having a dangerous criminal in a position of power. 

For ethics and safety, Crouch is not very ethically minded. He is secretly evil and not actually working in the students best interests. He does not think ethically like a typical person. As noted above, he views it as okay to punish students by transfiguring them into animals. He does not have a conscience, the way most people do, to prevent him from hurting others. Using the imperious curse on students is questionable. He never ends up seriously harming any students in the classroom but he his less careful than he perhaps ought to be. The class he teaches is naturally somewhat dangerous though and he is correct in his belief that students need to be somewhat exposed to danger in order to learn to protect themselves. They need to be exposed to danger in a somewhat controlled environment. What is questionable is whether the classroom environment with Crouch was properly controlled. He does ultimately need to keep students safe enough to keep his position but his idea of the appropriate threshold for danger may be off. Like Hagrid, Crouch can sometimes misjudge the level of danger appropriate for classes. We also must deduct points for the fact that Crouch spends the year actively working to endanger one of his students by helping Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament so that Voldemort can kill him. For ethics and safety, I give Crouch a D for Dreadful. I am glad he stands up to the government by allowing students to actually see the dangers they will be facing but he cannot be trusted to do this responsibly.

For knowledge and passion for the subject, I will give Crouch high marks. He draws upon his knowledge as a dark wizard and uses that to help his students understand the dark side and how to fight it. He brings a useful perspective to the subject even if it is illegally. He is very enthusiastic about what he teaches. His teaching does ultimately help his students in some ways. For knowledge and passion for the subject, I give Crouch an O for Outstanding.

These grades average A for Acceptable. A grade right in the middle of the spectrum fits Crouch Jr. There is a mixture of negatives and positives with his teaching style. Having him for a teacher did ultimately benefit his students but they were also lucky nobody got seriously hurt.  An ideal teacher for the subject has Crouch’s passion but more of a sense of ethics. 

Dolores Umbridge (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Dolores Umbridge teaches Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts for one year, during which she also serves as High Inquisitor and eventually Headmistress. We all know she is awful but I am here to articulate objectively why she is awful. 

Beginning with Umbridge’s teaching methods, she takes a purely theoretical approach. The subject she teaches is important for students to learn how to protect themselves from danger, practical experience is a necessity. Defence Against the Dark Arts ought to be a practical course. By only teaching the theoretical, she deprives students of a chance to actually learn useful things and also deprives them of the chance to learn how to pass their standardized exams. This was actually her goal, to inhibit learning the subject. She is worse than useless because she actually works against students learning the subject matter she is supposed to teach. She teaches propaganda that discourages using defensive spells and punishes students for expressing opinions contrary to the textbook. A healthy learning environment would encourage students to express their opinions and discuss the course content. Refusing to allow discussion proves that the content she is teaching does not stand up to scrutiny. In her role as an administrator, Umbridge makes rules against students forming a group to independently study Defence Against the Dark Arts, threatening them with expulsion. For teaching methods I give Umbridge a T for Troll. She not only fails to teach the subject, she actively tries to prevent students from learning it. 

Umbridge’s disciplinary methods are medieval and cruel. She uses actual physical torture when giving Harry Potter detention, making him write lines with his own blood, leaving his hand permanently scarred. This is physical abuse that should not be allowed. The reason she was punishing Potter was also in attempt to silence him from telling the truth about Voldemort being back. Students should not be discouraged from telling the truth or from questioning unjust rules. Students should not be silenced from speaking out about things that are important to them. Teachers ought to allow students to question them and to explain why rules are as they are, instead Umbridge uses physical torture and strict rules to try to force students into obedience. Not only are her methods unethical, they are ineffective. She does not earn the respect of her students and so they do not obey her when she is not watching. Because they hate her, students are driven to rebel against Umbridge. Good discipline is not forcing students to obey, it is guiding them to make good choices even when there is no authority figure watching. Her overly strict techniques just make students more inclined to disobey her whenever they can get away with it. A good teacher would have students doing what she wants them to even when she is not looking. Good teachers also do not make arbitrary rules that seek to silence students and inhibit learning. Umbridge does not allow dissenting opinions to be discussed in class, which is a rule that inhibits learning. For discipline and classroom management, I give Umbridge a D for Dreadful. Students only obey her out of fear and will go out of their way to defy her when they can get away with it. Her rules are also harmful and should not be followed anyway. In a later chapter, I intend to discuss Umbridge’s detrimental rules in more depth. 

For ethics and safety, there is little to add. Umbridge uses unethical and harmful methods of discipline. She is also actively working against students learning an important subject. Her lessons are safe but there is such a thing as too safe in a subject that is naturally supposed to have some danger. The purpose of the subject is to expose students to danger in a relatively controlled environment. Umbridge does not allow students to face danger, which puts them in more danger in the long run by not teaching them to protect themselves from real world dangers. For safety and ethics, I give Umbridge a D for Dreadful. Her lessons are safe but in a way that puts students in more danger in the long run and she is doing a very unethical thing by actively preventing students form learning to protect themselves from danger. 

For knowledge and passion for the subject, there is little to say. Umbridge shows no knowledge of the subject, at least none that she cares to share. She is in fact trying to prevent students from learning the subject. She is an anti-teacher. For knowledge and passion for the subject, I give her a T for Troll. 

Umbridge’s overall grade is T for Troll. Not just because I have an emotionally negative reaction to her, but because she objectively fails to teach the subject she is supposed to teach, actively works against students learning the subject, and treats students cruelly. In a later chapter, we will discuss in more detail the harmful things Umbridge does as an administrator. 

Harry Potter (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

Harry Potter was never an official teacher at Hogwarts but he did secretly teach a multigrade Defence Against the Dark Arts class for one year, during his fifth year as a Hogwarts student. Though not officially endorsed by Hogwarts, I think it still worth analyzing his performance as a teacher. Of course we have to use slightly different standards than we do with the official teachers. For example, Potter dating one of his students would be inappropriate if he were an adult and actually employed as a teacher, but is perfectly fine given he is a teenager and she is his peer. Potter is not in the same position of authority as the official teachers, he is a student leading a learning club without adult supervision. He does not have to follow the same professional standards as a teacher. 

For teaching methods, Potter seems to have learned from the good teachers at Hogwarts. He begins with easier spells and progresses to more difficult ones. He demonstrates spells and then give students guided practice, during which he goes around the room and gives constructive one on one feedback to students. He is patient and helps students improve techniques over the course of several lessons. He takes pride in students individual achievements, reflecting on each student’s progress. He is very encouraging and helps each student hone their skills. He yields results. His students who took OWL and NEWT exams that year were greatly helped by his teaching. More importantly, he prepared them to apply their skills to the real battles they would face over the next few years. He successfully taught his students to cast the Patronus charm, one of the most difficult spells to master. For teaching methods, I give Potter an O for Outstanding. 

For classroom management and discipline, there is little to say. Potter does not have the same authority to give punishments as most teachers do. He had few issues, since all his students were there voluntarily and very serious about learning. During the first meeting, he did get some backtalk from one of his students who did not think the disarming spell was useful. Potter quickly set hims straight by telling him how he used the spell in fighting Voldemort. This successfully resolves the problem and gets the students on board with learning the spell. Eventually, one student rats out the group and is punished by being cursed with boils on her face. This is ethically questionable but was not Potter’s doing, it was Hermione Granger’s. Still Potter is somewhat responsible for not asking Granger what measures she put in place to prevent people from ratting them out. Overall, Potter’s classes run smoothly and so for classroom management I give him an E for Exceeds Expectations. 

For ethics and safety we must apply some moral relativism here. Under normal circumstances it would be unethical for a student to teach a dangerous subject without adult supervision. However, this was under circumstances where a war was coming and students were being prevented from learning how to protect themselves. The ethical thing for Potter to do was to break the rules in order to prepare his fellow students for the war. It was an extraordinarily brave and moral thing to do. Like any Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, he is teaching a dangerous subject in a relatively controlled environment. The secrecy makes it a little hard for students to get help if injured but there is little that Potter can do about that. Fortunately, he taught in a safe enough way that serious injuries were avoided. For ethics and safety, I give Potter an E for exceeds Expectations. 

For knowledge and passion for the subject, Potter is well above the expected level for a student his age. He is passionate enough that he desires a career is fighting the dark arts. His knowledge is also above average. Aside from what her learned in his four years of classes, he received extra training from Lupin in casting the Patronus charm and also taught himself defensive spells when training for the Triwizard tournament. He also attended duelling club, where he leaned the disarming spell. He also has firsthand experience fighting Voldemort multiple times and fighting dementors. Compared to a typical qualified teacher, his knowledge level is probably at E for Exceeds Expectations but for a student his age it is at an O for Outstanding. 

I give Harry Potter an overall grade of O for Outstanding. Taking into account he is a student and he is working with limited resources, his teaching ability is well beyond what is to be expected.

Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster)

Albus Dumbledore is headmaster of Hogwarts for many years. Prior to being headmaster, he also taught Transfiguration as well as Defence Against the Dark Arts (presumably at different points in his career) but we do not know enough about his teaching to evaluate him as a teacher. We are here to evaluate him as a headmaster, the equivalent to a principal. We have to use different criteria for evaluating a school administrator than for evaluating a teacher. Instead of using specific categories, I have opted to go through some positives and some negatives about Dumbledore’s work as headmaster. I must remind readers that I am evaluating Dumbledore as a school administrator, not as a person or as a leader in the war against Voldemort. Some of Dumbledore’s actions for the greater good are actually poor decisions from an educational standpoint, be we will get to that. First, let us begin with some positive things about Dumbledore as headmaster. 

Dumbledore is a good leader in a crisis. Whenever an unexpected emergency arises, such as when a mountain troll is seen in the school, Dumbledore keeps a cool demeanour and calmly instructs the staff and prefects to get the students to safety. His calm demeanour throughout such emergencies helps model to others how to remain calm and helps reassure students that the situation is under control. He also shows he is good at thinking quickly and delegating tasks. 

Another positive thing about Dumbledore as headmaster is he is well liked and respected. He genuinely cares about his staff and students and most of them respect him for it. The Weasley twins, who often get into mischief, state that they held back their mischief out of respect for Dumbledore. Dumbledore is a person who inspires a lot of loyalty and his students look to him as inspiration in the fight against Voldemort. A group of students name their secret club for learning Defence Against the Dark Arts “Dumbledore’s Army” in his honour. It is very important for teachers to feel supported by the school administrator. When Umbridge asks Professor Grubbly-Plank, a substitute teacher, if she feels well supported by Dumbledore, Grubby-Plank reports she is very happy with how Hogwarts is run. If a substitute teacher feels this way, most of the regular teachers likely do as well. Dumbledore is a friend and emotional support to his staff, such as when he is there for Hagrid while his pet, Buckbeak, is to be executed. 

Another positive thing about Dumbledore is he believes in inclusiveness. He is willing to hire teachers despite prejudices against them in the wizard community, such as hiring Lupin, a werewolf, and Hagrid, a half-giant. Dumbledore does not let societal prejudices against marginalized groups get in the way. He also does everything in his power to make his staff feel comfortable. For example, setting up a classroom that looks like the Forbidden Forest in order to accommodate Professor Firenze, who lived in the Forbidden Forest. He hires Dobby the house-elf to work at Hogwarts, despite the wizard community and house-elf community having prejudices against a house-elf choosing to be free. Being a house-elf, Dobby does not want too much freedom, and Dumbledore obliges by giving him just the amount he is comfortable with. Dumbledore is a great believer in justice and helps get Hagrid a job at Hogwarts when Hagrid is expelled, because he rightly believes Hagrid is innocent and had been framed. 

Despite his dedication to inclusiveness, Dumbledore still has some prejudices of his own. In particular, against Slytherin House. Hogwarts students are divided into four houses based on personality at age eleven. I plan to examine the pros and cons of this more throughly in a later chapter but for now we merely need to examine how Dumbledore treats the houses. Slytherin House has a reputation as the evil house. Being presumed evil from the age of eleven is likely to make someone become evil. Dumbledore does very little to help the moral development of students who have been condemned to the “evil house”. If these students are considered likely to develop poor moral behaviour, intervention should be made to help them develop appropriate moral behaviour. Dumbledore is extremely negligent on this front. Each house has a teacher in charge of discipline in that house. Gryffindor has a head of house who has no qualms about disciplining students within her house. Despite her competitive nature, McGonagall takes points from her own house when she believes it is warranted. If she saw that her Gryffindor students were bullying other students, it is reasonable to assume she would intervene. Meanwhile, Slytherin House is headed by Snape. Snape allows and even encourages his Slytherin students to bully others, despite having been a bully victim himself when he was a student. Snape does not discipline his students when they antagonize other students. He shows favouritism and unfairly takes points from other houses while not taking form his students when he ought to. This contributes to the moral corruption of Slytherin students. Dumbledore is also in charge of deciding who gets to be prefects (students in years 5-7 who help enforce the rules) and he chooses Draco Malfoy for Slytherin. To be fair, we do not have enough information to say whether there were better options, but Malfoy is not a good choice for prefect. He frequently bullies other students and gets away with it and has proven himself likely to abuse power. Dumbledore choosing a morally corrupt student as a prefect, in a house with a morally corrupt teacher in charge of it, gives the impression that he does not care about the moral development of Slytherin students. He seems content to allow Slytherins to look to morally corrupt role models and offer them little guidance. It is as if he accepts that Slytherins are evil and there is nothing to be done to improve their moral development. A moment that really demonstrates Dumbledore’s attitude towards Slytherin House happens during an end of the year feast in the first book of the series. Slytherin House has been declared winners of the house cup and are celebrating, but then Dumbledore very publicly awards last minute house points to Gryffindor and snatches the victory away from Slytherin. The Gryffindor students who helped save the philosopher’s stone deserved to be commended, but the Slytherin students did not deserve to have the house cup taken from them at the last minute, to celebrate their victory and then lose it at the last minute. It seems Dumbledore planned it this way to humiliate Slytherin. This is not a good thing to do to children. It cements the view amongst everyone at Hogwarts that Slytherins are bad and deserve this treatment. 

Although Dumbledore tends to have a very progressive view and seeks to help marginalized groups, apart from Slytherins, he also uses slave labour at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was using slave labour long before Dumbledore was in charge and he is not solely to blame. However, it is an oversight on his part to not challenge the status quo the way he does in most other situations. Although the house elves are conditioned not to want freedom, he could be doing more to improve working conditions for them and work towards changing the status quo. 

Dumbledore’s decisions regarding safety at Hogwarts are sometimes negligent. When protecting the philosopher’s stone, he keeps it at Hogwarts guarded by traps that endanger students. He warns students away from the third floor corridor, but it is very easy to get lost at Hogwarts. First year students in particular are in serious danger of getting lost and wandering into the dangerous section, which is exactly what ends up happening. The only effort Dumbledore makes to protect students form stumbling upon a dangerous three-headed dog, either intentionally or accidentally, is a door with a lock so simple first year students are taught how to bypass it. He also knows that the monster in the chamber of secrets was not dealt with the first time the chamber was opened but does nothing, as far as we know, to find it during the fifty years in between the times the chamber was opened. Finally, for one year he knows that Draco Malfoy is half-heartedly trying to murder him and allows Malfoy to endanger other students and staff with his half-hearted murder attempts. Two students are nearly killed, Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. Dumbledore does not want to endanger Malfoy by making it obvious that he knows what he is planning, but surely there must be some way he could stop Malfoy from endangering other people who Dumbledore is responsible for the safety of. 

Some decisions Dumbledore makes may be best for the greater good but still make him a bad school administrator. Particularly around staff hiring. He considers Divination to be a pretty useless subject. He hires Trelawney, not because he believes she has anything useful to teach students, but because he wants her close by in case she has prophecies that can help against Voldemort and because he is protecting her from Voldemort. This decision may be important to the greater good but it was not made with the educational needs of students in mind. Dumbledore also allows Snape to emotionally abuse students for many years because he needs Snape around for strategic reasons. He does not initially allow Snape to teach the subject he wants to teach, so allowing Snape to teach his second favourite subject is important to keeping him relatively happy and therefore loyal. Snape is an important piece in the war against Voldemort. Still, though we can understand why Dumbledore hires Snape, he does not need to allow Snape to emotionally abuse students. There is surely something he can do to intervene and discipline Snape without losing him as an ally. Snape should not be allowed so much freedom to harm students in their psychological development. Once again, Dumbledore is prioritizing other things above the developmental needs of his students. His hiring of Trelawney and Snape may make him a good strategist in the war but do not make him a good school administrator. He does not put the educational and developmental needs of his students first.

Overall, I give Dumbledore an A for Acceptable. There are a lot of positives and a lot of negatives to his administrative style, which balance out somewhere in the middle of the grading scale. 

Conclusion

Hogwarts sample of teachers is varied and represents many types of teachers, both good and bad. They show us there are many ways to be a good teacher. A good teacher can be stern and orderly but also encouraging and compassionate like McGonagall. A good teacher can be flexible and fun like Flitwick or Slughorn. There are also many ways to be a bad teacher. A bad teacher can be abusive and discouraging like Snape or simply negligent and detached like Binns. They can be simply useless like Lockhart or actively work against students learning like Umbridge. Someone can be a good person but require some improvement as a teacher, like Hagrid. As long as they are willing to learn from experience, bad teachers can get better. Someone can be brilliant at creating educational materials but bad at interacting with students, like Snape. There can be teachers with a complex mixture of good and bad traits, like Crouch Jr. Traits that are common to most good teachers are caring for their students and interacting with them, passing along vast knowledge of the subject matter, and making learning interactive and enjoyable. Good teachers use interactive methods as much as possible and help students learn through experience. Traits that make teachers bad include lack of knowledge of the subject matter, lack of attention to students, dangerous teaching methods, and passive teaching methods. Some teachers have a complex mixture of good and bad traits, like Crouch Jr disguised as Moody. Crouch’s lessons are beneficial but dangerous due to his lack of moral conscience. He does a lot of things right, such as checking for prior learning and helping students learn through experience, but also lacks essential skills such as safety consciousness and emotionally connecting with students. 

When it comes to discipline, the best teachers are the ones who have their students best interests at heart. While Umbridge disciplines students because she wants power and control and Snape does it to hurt students, good teachers like McGonagall discipline students because they genuinely want to help students in their moral development. While McGonagall can be overly strict, students still respect her because they know she wants what is best for them. Other teachers like Flitwick and Lupin are less strict but still effective at maintaining discipline. Teachers can have different disciplinary styles but still be equally effective as long as they have students best interests at heart. It is important for teachers to treat all students equally and apply rules consistently to every student. 

Hogwarts has a lot of issues with teachers. Of the core subject teachers, the only ones who stay for a long time and are good are McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout. Two of the core subject teachers that are there for a long time are bad teachers; Snape and Binns, though Snape is eventually replaced by Slughorn who is somewhat better. Defence Against the Dark Arts is a vital core subject that is taught inconsistently due to constant changes in teachers, some good, some bad, and some a mixture of both. We only see teachers for two elective subjects; Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. In both of those, the teachers could use some improvement. Overall, Hogwarts needs help establishing a good group of teachers. Unfortunately, the good ones are also partially to blame for the bad ones. The core group of good teachers are also partially responsible for allowing Snape’s abuse of students. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout could all be doing more to address it and protect students. If I were a student, I would feel helpless in Snape’s class and wonder how it is possible that I cannot appeal to McGonagall or Dumbledore to intervene. Rowling tries to have things both ways by having students deal with unjust teachers yet portraying the headmaster as a good person. It is as if we are supposed to ignore that Dumbledore has the authority to stop Snape’s abuse of children. Students who are being abused by a teacher should be able to go to other teachers, especially the headmaster, for protection. It is unacceptable that nothing is done about it. 

There are four subjects for which we can compare multiple different teachers; Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and of course Defence Against the Dark Arts. 

In Potions we have Snape and Slughorn. There is a stark contrast between them when it comes to demeanour. Snape is abusive while Slughorn is kind and fun-loving. Snape favours Slytherins students over all others. Slughorn also plays favourites but does not only favour Slytherin, students from all houses have a chance to impress him and become one of his favourites. While Slughorn is overall more pleasant and fair, there is still the drawback of him being somewhat negligent to students he does not favour. He focuses on uplifting students who impress him, whereas teachers ought to work on uplifting students who are struggling and need help. Still Slughorn’s classes are enjoyable and students probably look forward to his classes whereas they dreaded Snape’s Potions classes. Of course teaching is not only about being nice. Snape seems to have more insight into the subject matter than Slughorn does. I believe Snape is the better potion maker. But Slughorn is a better teacher in that he encourages more independent thought, whereas Snape expects perfect adherence to his instructions. Snape’s instructions are likely not straight from the textbook, but are his improved recipes. It is ironic that he improved upon the potion recipes but does not encourage students to do the same. He ought to teach them to better understand how things work, instead of demanding perfect adherence to his instructions without explaining them. Both teachers are imperfect but I would rather have Slughorn teach me and Snape write the textbook.

For Care of Magical Creatures, we have Hagrid and Grubbly-Plank. Both are very knowledgable about magical creatures. Hagrid is probably more knowledgable of the creatures many people stay away from. Grubbly-Plank is considered the better teacher by the students. She teaches about creatures the students are interested in and that they need to know about for the standardized exams. Hagrid went from teaching overly boring and useless creatures to overlay dangerous creatures. Hagrid can improve as a teacher but he needs to be more safety conscious and more in tune with what will benefit the students. Teaching outside a standard curriculum is not inherently bad, but he needs to work on how he goes about it. Grubbly-Plank is a lot more by the book. Teaching the curriculum is important but expanding beyond it is not inherently bad either. Grubbly-Plank is the better teacher right now but with experience Hagrid has potential to combine the best of both worlds; teaching the curriculum while also teaching outside the box and bringing his own experience to the subject. 

For Divination we have Trelawney and Firenze. These two are teaching from vastly different bodies of knowledge from two different cultures. They end up both teaching the course together, splitting lessons between the two. I hope in time they can reconcile their differences and work together. A great way to advance the study of a subject is to combine perspectives from multiple cultures. It is difficult, however, for someone like Trelawney to compromise and accept that the perspective she has been taught may be flawed. She likes to pretend to already know everything, which closes a person’s mind off to learning. Trelawney’s beliefs about how divination works is supported by the wizard community’s supposed experts and her methods are what is tested on the standardized exams. Firenze’s perspective adds truth that the wizard community has missed. His lessons enlighten students about how divination works but does not prepare them for the standardized exams. This highlights how standardized exams can limit progress in a subject. Divination, as a field of study, should evolve to incorporate centaur’s perspective, but this change will likely be slow in being implemented because students need to pass standardized exams. Trelawney’s methods and content more efficiently prepare students for the standardized exams than do Firenze’s. Perhaps Hogwarts graduates who learned from both teachers will eventually push for changes in standards for the subject. 

For both Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, we see teachers who teach the standard curriculum contrasted with teachers who are outside the box. It is likely that Grubbly-Plank and Trelawney both completed NEWTs in the subjects, whereas Hagrid and Firenze are not graduates of Hogwarts. It is interesting to see how a dropout and a person from outside wizard society both bring something new to the subjects they teach, experiences they gained outside of standard wizard education. It shows how standard education is not everything and education can benefit from incorporating fresh perspectives. 

Now we come to Defence Against the Dark Arts, for which we have six different teachers, seven if you count Harry. These teacher represent a very wide range of teaching ability. On the lower end of the scale, we have Umbridge who is worse than useless because she actively works against students learning the subject. A slight improvement from her is Lockhart who is useless, bragging about himself rather than teaching the subject, but at least he is not trying to prevent students form learning the subject. Then we have Quirell who was competent but just barely and was trying to harm students. On the higher end of the scale we have Snape, who is a better teacher in this subject than he was in Potions. While still mean and emotionally detached from students, he gives memorable and interactive lessons suitable to the subject he loves. Students like him better in this class than in Potions. On the highest end of the spectrum we have Lupin, who makes the subject fun, interactive, useful, and reasonably safe, and builds a positive connection with students. Crouch Jr, in my opinion does not fit anywhere on the scale because he is a complex mixture of good and bad qualities. His lessons are useful but dangerous. He has good classroom management but is detached from students and does not have their best interests at heart. He is a complex man who does a lot of things right and a lot wrong. Overall the bad teachers in Defence Against the Dark Arts are the ones who do not provide practical lessons. The subject requires practical experiences and some level of danger in a controlled environment. The better teachers for this subject are the ones who can expose students to the dangers they will be facing but do so in a controlled way and can intervene if something goes wrong. 

Overall, we can learn a lot from Hogwarts’ diverse sample of teachers about what makes a good teacher and what makes a bad teacher. In the next chapter, we will discuss Hogwarts extracurricular activities (mainly Quidditch) and resources, and propose extracurricular activities and resources they ought to have. In a later chapter, we will discuss general topics about the structure of Hogwarts, discipline, and the pros and cons of the house system. 

Chapter Text

Introduction

Extra-curricular activities can be an enriching part of students education. They offer opportunities for socializing, learning extra skills, and building one’s resume for future careers. In this chapter we discuss Hogwarts extra-curricular activities, which mostly means we discuss quidditch. There seem to not be any other extracurricular activities at Hogwarts. We also discuss Hogsmeade and the one time triwizard tournament and suggest other extracurricular activities I believe Hogwarts ought to have. 

We will also discuss educational resources that Hogwarts has and suggest resources Hogwarts ought to have. This also includes discussion of health resources and accommodations for students with special needs, both inside and outside canon.

Since this chapter is a little shorter than previous chapters I wish to take the opportunity here to make somewhat of an amendment to prior chapters. It has come to my attention that perhaps I was wrong in believing sexual education should wait until second year. Bodies do begin to change in some ways at age eleven and twelve. Perhaps my belief that eleven was too young shows I am a little more puritanical than I believed I was. I think it is important to note that this essay is my professional opinion, with emphasis on the word opinion. Education is not a very exact science, little is universally agreed upon. There are probably people with the same credentials as me with different opinions in some areas and their opinions are equally valid. There are low stakes in giving opinions on a school that does not exist. If I were legitimately working on the curriculum for a school, I would expect others besides myself to be weighing in to try and reach the best possible decisions, my opinion alone would not decide things. While I do not intend to go back and change prior chapters, I want it noted in the essay that I may have been wrong about some things. It was also pointed out that instead of just sexual health, Hogwarts may be in need of a general health curriculum, including things like mental health, nutrition, hygiene, and magical health issues. I considered discussing that in that chapter but it felt like the chapter was already overcrowded. In this chapter I explore Hogwarts need for health education resources. 

Quidditch

Quidditch is a team sport played at Hogwarts. Each of the four houses has a Quidditch team consisting of seven players. The teams compete against each other throughout the year and the team with the most points at the end win the Quidditch Cup. Points scored in quidditch also contribute to winning the House Cup. I will not analyze the rules of quidditch here. The rules of quidditch are nonsensical but Hogwarts did not invent them. Hogwarts is merely upholding wizard tradition and I will not fault them for playing a traditional game the way it always has been played. It is a part of how Hogwarts helps preserve magical culture. From a safety perspective, I am slightly bothered by the bludgers existing solely to make the game more dangerous, but that is a level of risk the magical world considers acceptable. Besides, they can fix broken bones more easily than muggles can and so it is natural that they are comfortable with a higher level of risk. The sports we play in real life also have dangers but that is a level of risk society has decided is outweighed by the benefits of sports. Sports, although I personally do not enjoy them, have educational benefits. For one thing, they help with physical development and fitness. Since Hogwarts does not have any required physical education courses, it is beneficial that students be encouraged to be physically active by playing quidditch. Team sports also have the benefit of helping students develop positive social behaviours such as good teamwork and sportsmanship. Learning how to work cooperatively with others, how to lose gracefully, and how to win gracefully are all important social behaviours developed through competitive team sports. Team sports are also a way to develop school spirit. For Hogwarts, it develops house spirit, giving all members of the house something to unite over in cheering for their team. Of course, the downside of this is also present at Hogwarts: sometimes people get too competitive and it leads to being mean to people from other houses. Physical fights have been known to break out at Hogwarts over quidditch. There is also a lot of nastiness between certain houses, particularly between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Students at Hogwarts do not view quidditch as merely friendly competition, they view Slytherin as an enemy. Just like in real life, competition can sometimes go too far. There is no easy solution to this problem other than teachers doing more to encourage good sportsmanship. 

Something very unusual about how Hogwarts handles quidditch is lack of adult supervision. They have an adult referee during matches but no adult supervision in practices. Each team is run by a student captain who makes all the decisions. In real life, school sports teams are usually run by adult coaches, usually a teacher (typically the physical education teacher but not necessarily) or a separate person hired specifically to coach a team. It is unusual that Hogwarts quidditch teams are not supervised by the heads of houses. Professor McGonagall is very emotionally invested in the game and played it herself when she was a student so it is surprising she is not more involved in running the Gryfindor quidditch team. If a student is singlehandedly making the major decisions for a team, it needs to be a very responsible student who has a good sense of fair play. It is unclear how quidditch captains are chosen or what criteria is used but it seems seniority on the team is a factor. They are said to have equal status with prefects, which theoretically should imply careful selection.

An important point in competitions is they should be fair, everyone should have a roughly equal chance at winning while playing by the rules. At Hogwarts, quidditch is usually refereed by Madame Hooch, a neutral person who enforces the rules equally. However, an aspect of quidditch that is not fair is that not everyone uses the same equipment. Instead of Hogwarts providing broomsticks, students are required to use their own broomsticks in quidditch. This is unfair because it excludes students with less money for quality broomsticks. It favours students with wealthy parents, who can afford faster brooms. Draco Malfoy gets a spot on his house team, despite lack of talent, because his father buys broomsticks for the team. Harry Potter has an unfair advantage over other players due to having a faster and more expensive broomstick. This makes quidditch an unfair game that is only for the wealthy. Hogwarts could even the playing field by providing broomsticks for quidditch matches and having all quidditch players use the same quality broomsticks. This would provide equal opportunity for students with less money and make matches more fair. 

Something bizarre about Hogwarts quidditch tournaments are that there are only six games per year. Each team plays each of the other teams exactly once. This is likely largely because Rowling did not want to write about more than three games per year (only in one book does Harry actually play three matches). In order to fill up the calendar more, they could have each pair of teams play each other twice in a year. Although, since they do not do this and there are only six games in a season, one would think the schedule would be flexible. One would expect that, in the case of dangerous weather, it would be easy to postpone the game. Instead, it is treated as if the scheduled date of each match is absolute and students are forced to play in a thunderstorm, creating unnecessary danger beyond what is a normal part of the game. There is no rational reason they cannot postpone games when the weather is unsuitable. 

Overall quidditch demonstrates some of the benefits and pitfalls of team sports in schools. It helps students who are involved with physical fitness and learning the value of teamwork but it also leads to people being too competitive at times. More supervision from the heads of houses could potentially give students a better sense of sportsmanship. Overall it is a good thing that Hogwarts has a team sport as an extracurricular activity but it would be better if they used standard brooms and rescheduled matches in the event of unsuitable weather.

Other Extra-Curricular Activities

Outside of quidditch, the Harry Potter books do not talk about any other extra-curricular activities at Hogwarts in detail. This is likely because the books revolve around Harry Potter, Rowling did not think to talk about Hogwarts having any extra-curricular activities Potter is not involved in. The fifth book mentions a gobstones club in passing but it is unclear if this is an official extra-curricular activity or just a club made by students. According to the wiki, gobstones is a magical game similar to marbles. Dumbledore’s annotations in Tales of Beedle the Bard speak of Hogwarts having a drama club in the past, run by the Herbology teacher at the time, but there is no evidence of this still existing during Harry Potter’s time at Hogwarts. Bringing back drama club would be beneficial to students who would be interested in that sort of activity and could be a way for students in different houses to mingle. In the films, Hogwarts has a choir, run by Professor Flitwick. This is another good activity for students who may be interested. The wiki lists some extra-curricular classes mentioned in video games and shown on the Marauder’s Map in the films. Some extracurricular classes mentioned in the wiki include Ghoul Studies (presumably the study of ghouls and similar creatures), Field Studies (involving studying magical creatures in the wild), Ancient Studies (presumably about ancient magic or history), and Xylomancy (a branch of divination involving twigs). Other extracurricular classes listed on the wiki, I have talked about in previous chapters as classes that I believe ought to be for academic credit (Music, Art, Muggle Music, Muggle Art, and Magic Theory). I like the idea of Hogwarts offering some non-credit courses to expand students interests. Although I do not consider the games or movies canon, the extra-curricular activities they suggest exist at Hogwarts are good ones. During Harry Potter’s second year of Hogwarts, there is an extracurricular duelling club, where Professor’s Snape and Lockhart aimed to teach students duelling skills, but this did not last very long. Duelling Club would be useful to have permanently, provided it is taught by competent teachers. It is an extension of Defence Against the Dark Arts and helps students learn self-defence. In general, it is good for a school to offer a variety of extra-curricular activities to meet diverse student interests. I believe Hogwarts needs more of them. 

Proposed Extracurricular Activities 

Overall, Hogwarts seems to have very few extracurricular activities available. Schools ought to have a variety of extracurricular activities that appeal to diverse students with diverse interests. Only seven people per house can be on the quidditch team at a time, there is a need for other extra-curricular activities for those not involved in quidditch. It would also be beneficial for there to be a variety of activities students can do to earn points for their house. It would give students with various different skill sets a chance to feel like they are contributing to earning house points. There could be a variety of inter-house competitions for students with different skills and interests. There could be an inter-house gobstones tournament to earn house points, for instance. 

A student like Hermione Granger, who is brilliant and ambitious but not interested in quidditch, has very little to put on her resume aside from being a prefect and getting good grades. Hogwarts ought to have extra-curricular activities for someone like Granger, academic extra-curricular activities such as debate teams or academic decathlons. Granger would be excellent at earning points for her house by competing in an academic trivia contests and debating her views on things like house-elf rights. Being involved in debates and being challenged on her viewpoints could also help her with developing more balanced views and arguments and prepare her for her political career. In general, this would be a great activity for any students who are interested in a career in politics or law.

Let us look at Ronald Weasley, a kid who feels overshadowed by his brothers accomplishments. He feels like playing quidditch is the only way to live up to his family expectations but his quidditch skills are mediocre. It would be a confidence builder for Weasley if there was another activity in which he could earn house points using something he is highly skilled at. Weasley happens to be excellent at chess. If Hogwarts had a chess club, like some muggle schools have, this would be a great chance for Weasley to feel accomplished in a different area from his brothers. Hogwarts could have chess tournaments between the houses and Weasley could earn points for his house this way. 

When I used to live in university dorms, we had a week called Winter Carnival, in which we had a variety of competitive events between houses to see which house earned the most points. One of the good things about this was there was variety of activities for a variety of people with different skill sets to contribute to. Hogwarts could have similar inter-house competitions with magical tasks. It could include magical games like exploding snap, spell-casting contests, and a contest to see who can eat the most Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. It would give students with a variety of skills chances to earn house points. 

There are also some non-competitive extra-curricular activities that could help prepare students for certain careers. For instance some schools have school newspapers. This would be a good activity for Hogwarts students who are interested in a career in journalism. Hogwarts could have its own school newspaper with news about quidditch and other big events happening. Some schools also have student governments, which could be good for students who are interested in working in government after they graduate. Another type of extra-curricular activity that could be competitive or non-competitive would be clubs relating to certain subjects. In real life some schools have science clubs or math clubs, Hogwarts could have clubs like a potions club, transfiguartion club, and arithmancy club. 

One of the downsides of competitive activities is sometimes students can take competition too far and it can create animosity between the houses. There ought to also be events that unite the houses. We see very little socialization between students from different houses. One way to do this could be having school dances. We see exactly one school dance in the series and it is part of the triwizard tournament, meaning under normal circumstances there are no schools dances at Hogwarts. We also se Slughorn’s party, but that is just for an exclusive group of students and guests. There probably should be annual school dances, as it is a good way for students to socialize and celebrate milestones. In real life proms are used to celebrate students reaching a certain point in their academic career. Hogwarts could similarly have proms for students in certain years to celebrate reaching that year in their education (ie, a fifth year prom, a sixth year prom, and a seventh year prom). 

Another activity I propose they have at Hogwarts, is a scavenger hunt for first years to help introduce them to places and objects around the castle. They could look for certain magical herbs, certain landmarks like the humpbacked witch statue, and generally look for objects or information that take them to variety of places around the castle. There could be a prize for the first team to finish it. 

Hogsmeade Visits

One periodic event Hogwarts does have that is a good opportunity for socializing between the houses is weekend visits to Hogsmeade, for students in third year and above. Periodically, throughout the year, students may go on trips to Hogsmmeade. This trips seem to have minimal supervision, students are allowed to wander wherever they want around town. Teachers are on site though and presumably available to step in if any issues arise. At third year, students are expected to be mature enough to go without close supervision. If students do misbehave on the trip though, they likely lose the privilege of going again. 

A benefit of trips to Hogsmmeade is immersion in wizard society. This can be especially beneficial for muggle born students to learn more about wizard society as part of their initiation into it. One way I think the trips could be made more beneficial and fun would be to have an optional scavenger hunt in which students can win a prize. They could be given a list of objects to obtain at various shops, questions to ask shopkeepers, or information to obtain. This would encourage exploration of all the different shops in the village and experiencing a variety of things. 

An unfortunate aspect of Hogsmeade visits is that not everyone is included. Students need permission form their parents or guardians to visit Hogsmeade. This is reflective of real life field trips in school. Parental consent is usually required and this has the unfortunate side effect of some students being left out and not getting the benefits other students do. This is an aspect of education that there is no easy answer to. If we do not have field trips at all, then all students miss out on the benefits of them. If we have field trips, some students are left out and there is inequality. It is a bit inconsistent that Hogwarts requires parental consent for visiting a village but not for playing dangerous sports or participating in dangerous tasks such as the Triwiard Tournament. It is also inconsistent that they allowed Harry Potter to attend Hogwarts against the wishes of his guardians but required their permission to take him to Hogsmeade. Requiring permission slips for Hogsmeade really does not make much sense in context. If they must require parental consent for things, I think they should at least be consistent. 

Triwizard Tournament

The Triwizard Tournament is an inter-school tournament that was done every few years in ancient times and was brought back in modern times for one year before being discontinued again. Hogwarts competes against two other schools; Durmstrang and Beuxbuttons. A worthy champion is magically chosen from each school to participate. The champions compete in three magical tasks, the winner receiving the Triwizard Cup and a cash prize. The tournament was discontinued for good reason. The dangers outweighed any benefits, even with safety protocols in place. However, I am still interested in analyzing what the tournament taught participants, and what virtues and skills the tournament rewards. I am also interested in analyzing other events surrounding the tournament. 

We do not know what criteria the goblet of fire used to decide who should be selected to participate in the tournament. It presumably chose the people it believed would best be able to handle the difficult and dangerous tasks. 

Throughout the tournament, students are discouraged from cheating but there are no negative consequences for cheating. In fact, they feel they are in danger if they do not cheat, so cheating is effectively unintentionally encouraged. This ultimately teaches a bad moral lesson. 

The first task is stealing a golden egg from a dragon. This is a test of courage and magical ability. Students were free to use any magical strategy they wished. They were not supposed to know the task ahead of time, which means theoretically it should have tested coming up with magical strategies on the spot. 

The egg gave participants a clue to the next task, testing problem solving skills by seeing if they could figure out how to read the clue (it required listening under water) and skills at solving the riddle inside the egg.

The second task was rescuing a hostage from mermaids. Each participant had to rescue someone they deeply cared about, be it a sibling, best friend, or love interest. This is not only dangerous physically, but emotionally as well. Each participant believed their loved one was in danger, which could have led to serious trauma. The task tested magical skills and courage once again, as well intelligence by figuring out a magical strategy. The tournament really tests ability to determine when to use which magical skill or ability. Harry Potter was the only participant who insisted on ensuring all of the hostages, not just his own, were safe. He was awarded points for this show of morality, and so the tournament rewarded selflessness.

The third task was making the way through a labyrinth, which had many magical beasts to confront. It included a sphinx, which again tested riddle solving skills. The other beasts tested skills at using defensive spells and hexes. Unfortunately, the task was tampered with and the winners brought to face Lord Voldemort, leading to death for one and lifelong trauma for the other. 

Overall, the tournament tasks were an effective test of courage, intelligence, magical ability, and in some cases morality. However, the dangers, both physical and emotional, outweighed the benefits. It is for the best that the tournament was discontinued, but some ideas from it could be used to inspire useful exam tasks. I stated in a prior chapter that exams ought to use creative tasks to test knowing when to use which magical skills.

A large flaw in the tournament was that it was not interesting for spectators. Only the first task was exciting for people to watch, in the second and third they could not see anything and are just waiting to see what order the participants emerged in. 

One positive thing about the tournament was that Hogwarts students got to mingle with students from other schools and hopefully learn a little about other cultures. There was also a school dance that went along with it, which was a good opportunity for students to socialize. I think it would have been beneficial to have more events surrounding the tournament. For instance, there could have been more opportunities for cultural exchange and having students from each school teach the other schools more about their culture. Each school could host a pot luck with games from their country. Perhaps the triwizard tournament should be replaced with a safer competition as an excuse for schools from different countries to meet up and have inter-school events such as parties and competitions to learn about each other’s cultures. 

Extracurricular Resources

In this section, we will discuss some educational resources Hogwarts has, outside of classes, and what I think they ought to have. 

Hogwarts has a vast library of books on various magical subjects, which students rarely seem to avail of. This is part of why I believe Hogwarts curriculum ought to incorporate more independent research projects to give students incentive to study library books outside of the standard curriculum. Students have access to a vast array of useful knowledge outside of classes. Some books are restricted and students require permission from teachers to access them. This prevents younger and less experienced students from learning magic they are not ready for. Case in point, when Hermione Granger used a restricted book to brew Polyjuice Potion, she wound up making a mistake and turning herself into a cat-person. It is reasonable that with dangerous magic, some books are kept out of the hands of students who are not yet ready. Overall, the library is a good way for students to expand their knowledge beyond the standard curriculum if they so choose. 

When Hermione Granger is planning to make the Polyjuice Potion, reference is made to a student store cupboard in which students can help themselves to certain potions ingredients. From what I could find online, this is referring to the cupboard in the potions classroom that students can access during class time when they are making potions. This got me thinking, however, it could be a good idea to have a supply cupboard open to students outside of class time as well. Not with overly dangerous materials but with relatively safe magical supplies with which to practice things outside of class. I think to would be a good idea to have one in the common rooms of each of the dorms. It could contain ingredients for relatively safe potions, objects like teacups to practice charms and transfiguration, tea leaves and crystal balls to practice divination, star charts to practice astronomy, and other objects to practice concepts learned in various classes. 

I also think there should be certain resources teachers provide to students in need. For example, perhaps Hogwarts should have a few extra wands in case someone breaks theirs. Obviously wands work better for those they are loyal to but a witch or wizard can use any wand, just not as effectively as using their own. Surely using a wand that is not their own is preferable to using a broken one like Ronald Weasley did for a year. For a whole school year, Weasley’s wand was a danger to himself and others. Professor Snape was cautious about letting him use it in duelling club, lest it hurt someone. The broken wand dangerously backfires multiple times throughout the year and could have harmed Weasley while casting spells during class. Hogwarts ought to provide spare wands in cases such as this. 

A resource we do see provided to a student in exceptional circumstances its the time-turner provided to Hermione Granger so that she could take more classes. Due to the dangers of it, this required special permission from the government and McGonagall vouching that Granger was responsible enough to use it wisely. It is good that such a dangerous object is heavily restricted. I wonder whether Granger was the only student to be given one. I suspect Percy Weasley may have used one as well. 

Another resource I think ought to be provided to students is tutoring for students who may struggle with homework. Perhaps tutors could be appointed in each house to help other students with homework during certain hours. This is something Hermione Granger might be very good at. 

Room of Requirement

An interesting feature of Hogwarts is the Room of Requirements, which magically conjures up things people need. This was built into the castle, presumably by one oof the founders who thought it was a useful feature to have in a school. Personally, I like to think it was Helga Hufflepuff. The room can conjure almost anything a student needs but how it determines what students need is a bit of a mystery. There are limits, for instance it cannot conjure food. The existence of the room is a secret, people stumble upon it without ever realizing what it was and then cannot find it again unless the room believes they need to. This is likely why, after so many generations, so few people know about it. 

The existence of this room is a double edged sword. It can provide students with what they need and so in theory it could help with homework and could also help students with medical or emotional needs. On the other hand it can also be used for dangerous things. It is used by a group of students to practice defensive magic when they we’re unjustly not allowed to by the current administration. Two years later it is also used to hide students fighting against a cruel and unjust administration and to bring in allies to protect Hogwarts from an attack. On the other hand, the year prior to that Draco Malfoy used it to repair a vanishing cabinet and bring in people to attack the school. It has been used both to protect the school and attack it. It has been used for both good and evil. It was necessary in the fight against evil and yet also endangered the school. 

Another feature of the room is that one of the things it can appear as is a room full of objects that people needed to keep hidden. Tom Riddle hid a horcrux there believing he was the only person to ever find the room. Harry Potter hid his potions book there after following instructions in it lead him to harm someone. The ability for students to hide things in the room can be both good and bad. It can help relieve them of objects they need to be rid of but cannot bear to destroy. It can hide useful objects that may be needed later. It can also be used to hide dangerous objects, such as Malfoy hiding the vanishing cabinet that was used to endanger the school. 

Something I have conflicting feelings about is whether the room should be kept a secret. If more people knew about it, they would have easier access to things they need. On the other hand, sometimes what people need is something they can keep secret. When it was used to train Dumbledore’s Army in defensive magic, it was vital that Dolores Umbridge, who was headmistress at the time, did not know it existed. If everyone knew about it, students would never be able to hide from corrupt authority figures. As a professional, I feel like I almost should be advocating that students not be allowed to keep secrets from teachers because they could do things they are not supposed to; but I think on some level students should be able to have some secrets or at least think they have secrets. It enables some independence and growth away form the prying eyes of adults. In the case of Hogwarts, students right to learn defensive magic was being oppressed and thy needed a way to fight back in secret. Of course using it to fight the oppressors those years kind of blew the secret open as a lot of students found out about it and canonically at least one of them eventually became a teacher (Neville Longbottom). One wonders if the wizards who write the history of how Voldemort was defeated will talk about the Room of Requirement for if it will be a historical mystery where people hid from the Carrows. I think even if they try to keep it a secret, word will spread over the next generation or two. Ironically the time the secret was most needed led to the secret getting out. The question is should Hogwarts have a room where students can obtain resources without the knowledge of the teachers? I think there is both benefits to it and dangers to it so I cannot definitively decide. I think perhaps it should be one of those things teachers pretend not to know about so that the students can use it as they will without the pressures of teachers observing them. 

Health Resources

Hogwarts has a hospital wing in which students go to get treated for various accidents related to magic. Presumably they can also go for more normal injuries or illnesses but we only ever see it used in cases of magic related ailments. Among the things we have seen students go to the hospital wing for are missing bones, dragon bites, petrification, being accidentally turned into a cat, and overgrown teeth due to a hex. The school nurse, Madame Pomfrey, is excellent at treating these problems and getting students back to full health. Presumably if a case occurred in which she could not help, students would go to a hospital, but we never see this occur. Hogwarts is self-sufficient at treating magical illnesses and injuries. Inevitably, in a school for magic, filled with 11-18 year old students who are largely unsupervised outside class time, sometimes students break the rules and face health issues due to doing something they were not supposed to do. For example, Hermione Granger turned into a cat-person as a result of illegally brewing and ingesting Polyjuice Potion. Granger did not get in any trouble when she went to the hospital wing to get treated. There seems to be an unspoken rule that Madame Pomfrey does not tattle on any students who come to her as a result of doing things they were not supposed to do. Some might say that Madame Pomfrey should be obligated to tell the teachers or administrators if students are breaking the rules but I think it is very important that she does not. In order for students to be safe, they need to know that they can seek medical treatment when needed without fear of being punished when they do. Otherwise they will not get the help they need when they fear punishment. Children that age are often not logical enough to think that it is better to be punished than to suffer medical issues. Case in point, Hermione Granger saying that being expelled would be worse than being killed. Fear of punishment would deter students from seeking medical help when they need it and so it is better that they know they will not get in trouble when they seek medical attention for ailments resulting from breaking thee rules. Whatever ailment they need to seek medical attention for is already a natural consequence of breaking the rules and one they will learn from. 

In addition to having an emergency room on campus, there are some other health-related resources I think Hogwarts could benefit from. There is a lack of education around health at Hogwarts. Students are permitted unlimited food at mealtimes and ought to be taught how to be responsible with it and not overeat. They should have pamphlets to teach them about nutrition, hygiene, and general self-care. They should also be taught the importance of exercise and encouraged to avail of the outdoor areas for physical recreation. An indoor gymnasium for when the weather is too cold or stormy for outdoors would also be beneficial and could be magically made to resemble the outdoors. Posters ought to be up in the common rooms of each dormitory educating students about health. These posters could also warn about ailments that can result from magic. These are ways self-care can be taught outside the classroom but it might be even more beneficial for Hogwarts to have a health course taught and this could serve the dual function of helping all students manage their own health as well as preparing students who wish to become healers for the pre-healing course I suggested in a previous chapter. It could also contain a physical education component to get students exercising. 

Mental Health Resources

In addition to physical health resources and education, Hogwarts is in desperate need of mental health resources and education. Let us ponder all the trauma Hogwarts students went through in the seven year window the main book series covers. There was a year in which several students were attacked by a mysterious and potentially deadly monster. The next year, the school was guarded by creatures that cause depression and rumination on one’s worst memories. The next year ended with the death of a popular student and rumours of the return of an evildoer that harmed the families of many of the students at Hogwarts and also threatened the safety of the students who were new to the magical world. The next year, they were suppressed from even talking about this threat to their world and oppressed by an overly restrictive school administrator who used physical torture sometimes. The next year, the threat of Voldemort’s return finally came to a head with his followers attacking the school and murdering the beloved headmaster, then the next year the school was fully taken over by an evil regime that physically tortured students and forced a lot of them into hiding. With all this trauma, it is a wonder anyone at Hogwarts is still mentally and emotionally functional. There is no evidence Hogwarts has a guidance counsellor or mental health supports of any kind. Than again this is not surprising, the series takes place in the 1990s when mental illness was something people kept quiet about even in the real world. Sometimes Professor Dumbledore serves as somewhat of a counsellor to Harry Potter and I like to imagine he occasionally does so for other students as well, but we never get the impression this is a regular part of his job. Hogwarts needs a counsellor whose job it is to meet with students one on one to help them with emotional concerns and perhaps give lectures on how to practice self-care in matters of mental health. Even under normal circumstances, Hogwarts would still have students who are away from home for the first time and navigating brand new challenges, some of whom are completely new to the magical world. Even without the war or other stressors, students ages 11-18 would be facing complex emotions that come with each stage of development. They would still be facing hormonal issues, relationship issues, homesickness, uncertainty about the future, and exam stress. Hogwarts is in desperate need of a counsellor. 

If Hogwarts does not have mental health services in the 1990s, odds are they also did not have them in the 1940s when Tom Riddle attended. Riddle was known to have sociopathic tendencies before he came to Hogwarts (torturing fellow orphans to insanity) and, as far as we can tell, virtually nothing was done to give him moral guidance or counselling to become a mentally healthier or more moral person. Riddle is still ultimately responsible for the atrocities he went on to commit, but Hogwarts could have done something to attempt to address his clear sociopathic tendencies before it got out of hand. They taught him magic and did not address his sociopathic tendencies to ensure he would use it responsibly. Perhaps they could not have at the time, perhaps the magical world did not know enough about mental health, and perhaps Riddle still would have made the same choices anyway, but it does demonstrate a need for them to learn more about mental health for the future. The lack of mental health resources fifty years later shows Hogwarts did not learn much from this. They knowingly send Harry Potter back to his abusive home every summer with no resources to help him cope, just like they sent Riddle back to the orphanage every summer with no resources to help him cope.

Accommodating Students With Special Needs

For the purposes of this essay, I am defining special needs as a condition in which the student requires accommodation different from the majority of students. We receive very little information on this in the Harry Potter franchise. I have a feeling it is not something that Rowling has very much experience with. Some may decry her for not including more disability representation in her books but personally, I feel it may be for the best that she did not attempt to portray disability it if she does not have experience with it, as I do not trust her to portray disability accurately and respectfully. However, we do have a few cases we can discuss with Hogwarts accommodating students with special needs. 

Remus Lupin has a condition called Lycanthropy, which means he uncontrollably turns into a werewolf during a full moon. A magical condition that is very specific to the magical world and not something we would ever have to deal with in real life. During Lupin’s time as a student, the Whomping Willow was planted to accommodate him. He would go into the Shrieking Shack for privacy during his transformations and it was guarded by the Whomping Willow to protect anyone from accidentally stumbling upon him. This accommodation worked and enabled Lupin to be successful as a student. Unfortunately, he was unable to hide it from his friends and at one point, one of his friends tried to harm another student by tricking him into seeing Lupin as a werewolf. The dangers of it could probably have been better avoided if it did not have to be kept a secret. Discrimination against werewolves actually puts people in more danger because it prevents werewolves form being able to be honest. If he had been able to tell people what was happening, Lupin could have been accommodated without the secrecy and students could have been kept away from the Shrieking Shack entrance without the need for a dangerous plant to deter them. 

If we want to be really technical, nearsightedness is also a special need. It just is not thought of that way in modern society because it is so easily accommodated with glasses. I still wish to discuss it because I am very pedantic and also nearsighted myself. The magical world presumably does not have a cure for nearsightedness, we see several witches and wizards wear glasses (Harry Potter, James Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Rita Skeeter, Arthur Weasley, Percy Weasley, Myrtle Warren). The good news for witches and wizards who require glasses is that glasses maintenance is much easier in the magical world than the muggle world, thanks to glasses-fixing spells like Oculus Reparo. We see a glasses-related issue come up during Harry Potter’s third year when he has trouble seeing in the rain during a quidditch match. Fortunately, there is a magical solution as Hermione Granger puts a spell on Potter’s glasses to repel the rain. What is unusual is that a third-year student has to think of this, one would think it would be standard practice in the magical world. Wearing glasses is common enough that I assume Potter is not the first quidditch player to wear them. A topic that is never mentioned in the books is whether there is anything different about eye exams in the magical world. In real life, people who wear glasses are recommended to get their eyes checked every few years to see whether their needs have changed. Each pair of eyes requires slightly different glasses, which is why most people cannot simply wear someone else’s glasses. I would assume Harry Potter gets his eyes checked at Hogwarts if he can, specifically to avoid having to ask his abusive family to take him to get his eyes checked in the summer. I would imagine the school nurse, Madame Pomfrey, offers eye exams. I think there was a missed opportunity for Rowling to show us what magical methods are used in eye exams. 

There is speculation that Luna Lovegood and Newt Scamander are on the autism spectrum. However, we are not told what, if any, accommodations they require at Hogwarts. I am on the autism spectrum myself and one of my career goals is helping make schools more inclusive for people on the autism spectrum. Unfortunately there is not enough relevance for me to justify discussing it in this essay. 

For most of this essay, I have stayed away from referencing any fan fiction because this is about how Hogwarts is portrayed in canon. If we took every fan idea into consideration, we would not have a consistent picture of Hogwarts. However, since we have so little canon information about Hogwarts students with special needs, I feel comfortable at this point mentioning some ideas that I have seen brought forward in fan fiction for how Hogwarts could accommodate students with special needs. In Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky, a fan fiction imagining if Harry Potter were raised by a scientist, Harry Potter has an unusual sleep disorder that makes his sleep cycle out of sync with day and night.  Each day, he falls a few hours behind. To accommodate this, he is given a time-turner to turn back time a few hours each day and get back in sync. Whether Hogwarts would do this in canon is questionable, given how dangerous time turners are and the ministry had to be persuaded to let Hermione Granger have one, but it is interesting to think about how magical accommodations can be used for students with disorders. In the Hermione Granger Series by SarahSmile416, a fan fiction retelling the Harry Potter series from the perspective of Hermione Granger, a muggle-born Hogwarts student named Jillian Haught is deaf and uses cochlear implants. Unfortunately, technology does not work at Hogwarts due to all the magic in the air. In order to make Haught’s implants work, a special shield charm is periodically put around it. When it wears off, she has to get someone to put the spell back on them again. Hermione Granger is taught the spell so that Haught has someone in the Gryfindor dorms to go to and does not have to go to a teacher every time it wears off. It is interesting to think about how an accommodation given to someone in the muggle world may have to be adapted in order to work in the magical world. It shows how there can sometimes be conflict between an accommodation a student grew up with and the new environment they are in. Fortunately, there are always solutions if the people involved are willing. If anyone reading this has suggestions for me for fan fiction involving Hogwarts students with special needs, please tell me in the comments. 

Conclusion

Hogwarts offers little in the way of extra-curricular activities and resources. This was an unfortunate missed opportunity for Rowling to flesh out Hogwarts and the magical world. Of course the great thing about an imaginary world is we can all imagine more extra-curricular activities being offered at Hogwarts and are not limited by what we see in canon. My ideal Hogwarts would offer a wide variety of extra-curricular activities and magical inter-house competitions and inter-school events. Hogwarts is also in need of more health resources, possibly health classes, and in very dire need of mental health experts. 

In the next chapter we will discuss the concept of hidden curriculum and what students learn outside classes, from the way Hogwarts structures things. We will discuss the pros and cons of the house system, analyze Hogwarts discipline, talk about Umbridge’s reign of terror, and cover other miscellaneous topics around Hogwarts. 

Chapter Text

Hidden Curriculum

In this chapter, we will be looking at several miscellaneous topics about Hogwarts. These topics mostly fall under the umbrella of the hidden curriculum of Hogwarts. In education, there are several different types of curriculum. There is the explicit curriculum that is taught in classes and usually tested in some way through tests or assignments. There is the null curriculum, which describes material that is in the official curriculum but teachers skip over, often due to time constraints. Then there is hidden curriculum, the things students learn in school that is not explicitly taught as part of the official curriculum. Hidden curriculum describes what students learn implicitly from the way school is run, the rules and expectations in place, the social structure, and the general environment of the school. In this chapter we will look at how Hogwarts is run and what lessons the school environment teaches students, whether those lessons are intended or not. Considering the students live at Hogwarts full time throughout the school year, it is all the more important to consider what lessons Hogwarts teaches them outside the classroom. 

Introduction to Hogwarts

Students who grow up in the magical world know their entire lives that they will attend Hogwarts. Meanwhile, students who are born to non-magical families get a surprise when they turn eleven and get a letter from Hogwarts. It seems a bit far fetched that families who had no idea magic existed are okay with sending their kids to a mysterious boarding school they have never heard of until very recently. This is why it is a popular fan theory that Hogwarts teachers meet with the parents of muggle-born students beforehand to explain things to them. What we do know is that children are surprised at age eleven by finding out there is a world of magic that they get to be a part of. This is very exciting and potentially overwhelming. Hopefully they are given someone to guide them through it. In Harry Potter’s case, he had Rubeus Hagrid to help him process this world changing information, guide him through learning about the magical world, and help him buy his school supplies at Diagon Alley. Tom Riddle had Albus Dumbledore as a guide when he first found out he was a wizard. Technically neither Potter nor Riddle were muggle-born but it is popular fan theory that all muggle-born students have someone help them with these things, usually a teacher. It seems logical that this happens, otherwise a lot of muggle born children would be very confused about what is happening and where to go to get their school supplies. How muggle born children get money to buy school supplies is never explained, once again we must use popular fan theory to speculate that they exchange muggle money for wizard money at the bank. The alternative is some sort of government funding for muggle-borns. What we do know is muggle-born students first exposure to the magical world is shopping for school supplies, which includes the magical experience of buying their first wand which chooses them. They then wait a while and go to King’s Cross Station to find the secret platform to get aboard the Hogwarts Express, a train that takes them to Hogwarts. It is not really explained why they travel to Hogwarts this way when they could use faster methods of travel, like the floo network. It seems to be this way due to tradition. The train ride provides a good opportunity to form social connections. When Harry Potter first travelled to Hogwarts, he had no idea how to find the secret platform and had to find a wizard family to help him. Some fans believe this happens to all muggle-born students but I think it is more likely Hagrid was absent-minded and forgot to give Potter the information. Others probably have whichever teacher guides them give them the info about the secret platform. Once students arrive at Hogwarts, first years ride in boats to the castle and then enter a magnificent great hall where they are sorted into their houses. The sorting ceremony involves a magical hat peering into their minds and souls and judging which house they belong in based on their personalities and values. They then sit with their new housemates and eat a grand feast. 

Let us now analyze what lessons are taught, intentionally or unintentionally, by how students are introduced to Hogwarts. For those who grew up in the magical world, a lot of this is mundane. For this who grew up in the muggle world, this is all very awe-inspiring and possibly overwhelming. They may feel a mix of emotions that they do not have time to fully process until later. By being kept in the dark about their destiny until they reach a certain age, one of the first things they learn about the magical world is how strict the magical world is about keeping magic a secret from outsiders. They are further shown how secretive the magical world is by secret entrances into Diagon Alley and Platform 9 3/4. After students are sorted into their houses, they are shown a secret entrance to their house common room that students in other houses do not know about. The message is they are special and get to be part of a secret society, and the secret must be kept from outsiders. Whether the magical world should be so strict about secrecy is a matter of moral debate among fans but the fact is that the magical world considers secrecy very important, thus Hogwarts is not wrong in teaching students the importance their society places staying secret. However, the secrecy also implicitly teaches a sort of elitism. Only certain special people get to be in on the secrets about this cool, awe-inspiring, world of magic. This might subtly contribute to the prejudices some wizards and witches feel towards muggles and muggle-borns. Some wizards and witches view muggle-borns as outsiders that should not be in on the magical world’s secrets and muggles in general as an inferior race. Muggle-borns learn from all this secrecy that their families and everyone they knew before knowing they had magic are to be kept out of the loop and that living in the magical world will gradually distance them from those people. 

The sorting ceremony has a bit of a dark undertone to it. The sorting hat reads the student’s mind, analyzing and judging their values and personality, then deciding which group they belong with. It is invasive and teaches students that in the magical world, it is morally okay to invade someone’s privacy in order to judge their character. It then teaches students that those in different groups are in some way morally different from them, they have different values and different moral qualities, which can be used to justify othering and discriminating against those in the other groups. More on this when I get to discussing the pros and cons of the house system next chapter. 

Prior to Hogwarts, all students, muggle-born and magic-born alike, are exposed to inequality based on wealth. The economics of the magical world are not fully explored in the series. It is unclear where Hogwarts gets its funding. Students do not pay tuition but they do have to pay for a lot of their own supplies such as books, wands, school uniforms, and more. It is unclear what happens if a student cannot afford all this. Are they prevented from attending Hogwarts? Is there a program that can help students who cannot afford all their supplies? Do some students have to do without all their books? In any case, students learn early on that money matters and some people can afford better quality supplies than others. Some can also afford luxury items at Diagon Alley while others cannot. They are also offered candy on the train, but only if they have money to pay for it, further cementing differences between the rich and the poor. As mentioned in an earlier chapter, the wealthy also have an unfair advantage in quidditch because they can buy better quality broomsticks. The wealthy have different opportunities than the poor in several aspects of Hogwarts life. 

The way students are introduced to Hogwarts and the magical world has nice aspects, they get to explore a cool new world and form social connections. They get to feel special, being part of a secret society and having a wand just for them. It is a pleasant introduction to their new world. However, there are some unfortunate underlying lessons involved that set the stage for some of the less pleasant aspects of magical society. 

Life in the Castle

Outside of class time, students have pretty much free reign of the castle, except after curfew when they have to stay in their dorms. Students have access to a large outdoor area for recreation. There is a vast library for studying and extracurricular reading. The castle walls are filled with paintings that can hear, speak, and visit each other. It is like the walls have ears, making it difficult for people to have private conversations. There are also ghosts everywhere and a poltergeist who is very fond of causing mischief. Students do seem to have privacy in the dorms but not elsewhere in the castle. I think students should have more privacy but the upside to the lack of privacy is they learn discretion. They learn not to speak loudly in public about private things.

It is very difficult for one to find their way around Hogwarts, particularly for first years. The staircases change on a whim. It seems very unfair that first years are chastised for being late for class when the school is very difficult to navigate. The chaotic organization of the physical castle is a bit of  fun adventure but can be frustrating at times. It ultimately helps students learn important skills in finding their way around. It can also theoretically be a way for students to practice camaraderie by helping one another. However, it also sends a message that school life is naturally difficult and adults will not make it easy even when they can. It teaches both a sort of interdependence one each other, and independence from adults. It teaches students that the world is complicated and they need to learn on their own how to manage difficulties. It gets them helping each other but also may make them somewhat distrustful of authority figures. Of course helping each other without adults came in handy when the students had to for a resistance against Umbridge. 

In addition to the many ghosts, some of whom are friendly and helpful, Hogwarts has a poltergeist named Peeves, who is the embodiment of chaos and mischief. He is always causing trouble for students, teachers, and other staff. He is particularly hated by caretaker Argus Filch. Peeves causes a lot of inconveniences but never seems to cause any serious harm. If he begins to get out of control, the ghost called the Bloody Baron keeps him in line. It is implied that Dumbledore could remove Peeves from the school if he wanted to but he does not. Perhaps Dumbledore, and previous headmasters, view Peeves as harmless and not bad enough to get rid of. Perhaps he is also viewed as valuable part of the school, keeping people on their toes. Through his mischief, Peeves teaches students, teachers, and staff to be on the lookout for trouble and how to solve minor nuisances in preparation for bigger problems. Though a troublemaker, Peeves is ultimately loyal to Hogwarts and helps defend the school against the attack by Voldemort and the death eaters. 

In addition to the educational resources mentioned in the previous chapter, Hogwarts offers some other free services to students. House elves do cleaning, which probably includes laundry, and prepare food for the students and staff at Hogwarts. Students are given virtually unlimited access to food during meal times. A very large amount of food appears on the tables of the Great Hall and students help themselves buffet style. This would, unfortunately, realistically lead to students over-eating or eating nutritionally unbalanced meals. Not eating right can lead to negative impacts on physical and mental heath. When it comes to sleep, students can easily learn from the natural consequences of making poor decisions. Unfortunately, it is more difficult for students to make the connection when poor decisions about eating impact their physical or mental health. There is a need for students to be educated about healthy eating, whether it be by having a formal health class or by having the information available in the form of pamphlets or posters. Posters could be hung up in the Great Hall and in the dormitory common rooms. I am fine with students being allowed to make their own decisions about eating, so long as they are given the tools to make informed decisions. 

There does not seem to be any indication of snacks being available outside of meal times, unless students purchase snacks themselves by mail or from Hogsmeade. Thus, snacks at night time seem to only be available to those with money. House elves give away extra food if asked, but few people know this or know how to find the kitchens. I think there ought to be a small supply of snacks in the common rooms for students to eat at night, possibly healthy snack options. When I lived in university dorms, there was a place open for a few hours at night where we could get food using unused ticks on our meal cards. 

Another free service Hogwarts provides is mail service. The main way wizards and witches communicate is sending letters and packages by owls. Some students have their own owls but for this who do not, Hogwarts has many owls students can borrow to send mail with. Owls deliver mail to students during meal time. This enables all students, including muggle-borns, to keep in touch with their families and the outside world regardless of money. While some aspects of Hogwarts life highlights inequality between the rich and poor (like students buying their own broomsticks for quidditch), other aspects of Hogwarts life are equally accessible to everyone, teaching students that everyone deserves certain basic rights. 

Safety and Danger

Hogwarts is famously one of the safest places in the wizarding world. To be fair, Rubeus Hagrid said this in reference to protecting the philosopher’s stone, not in reference to how safe it is for people. Hagrid is also the sort of person who gravely underestimates danger, he wanted to raise a dragon in his wooden hut. Hogwarts is really not a very safe place. If it is safe relative to rest of the magical world, I would not want to live in that world. Let us ponder some of the dangers students encounter at Hogwarts and some of the security measures that are in place. 

We have a castle filled with hormonal students carrying wands, which they can use to harm or even kill each other. It is really a wonder it does not happen more often given how emotionally unstable teenagers can be. Students do physically attack each other with magic sometimes, for instance when Hermione Granger attacked Ron Weasley with birds. A morre severe example is Harry Potter attacking Draco Malfoy with a spell he did not know the effects of and nearly killing him. There is little preventing students from harming one another outside of classes. The ghosts act as a bit of a security measure, sometimes alerting the teachers to trouble. For instance, Moaning Myrtle, the ghost, once alerted Professor Snape to the fight between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy by almost literally screaming bloody murder. Prefects also regularly patrol the halls to alert teachers to any trouble they come across. 

The castle is right next to a forbidden forest filled with dangerous creatures such as man-eating spiders and werewolves. Though students are forbidden from entering the forest unsupervised, very little is actually preventing them from entering it. Harry Potter and his friends enter it many times throughout their time at Hogwarts. At one point, Rubeus Hagrid advises them to follow the spiders, believing that the giant spiders will not harm friends of his. This shows Hagrid has a tendency to underestimate danger and is not the most reliable person to protect students in the forest. There was at least one occasion where students were brought into the forest as a form of punishment which seems cruel and unusual. They are supervised by Hagrid, who we know tends to underestimate danger. During this detention, Hagrid leaves two first-year students at a time unsupervised with only his cowardly dog for protection. They end up getting scared by a mysterious creature who was none other than the evil Lord Voldemort. Lucious Malfoy would be justified in taking legal action against the school for traumatizing his son in this way. It is possible he did, after all we never see the forest used as a form of punishment again. 

In Hogwarts, for a year there was a monstrous three-headed dog guarding the philosopher’s stone. Although students were forbidden from that area, very little was actually keeping them out of that area. There was a locked door but the spell for unlocking it is taught to first years (honestly, I have no idea why the magical world bothers with locks). On top of that, navigating the castle is so difficult that first years can easily stumble upon forbidden areas by accident, which is exactly what ends up happening. 

Built into the castle by one of Hogwarts founders is the chamber of secrets. Salazar Slytherin viewed this as a safety measure protecting the school against those he viewed as unworthy of learning magic. A serious danger to muggle born students is built right into Hogwarts DNA. Slytherin built the chamber of secrets and placed a creature called the basilisk Inside, with the intent that one day his heir would open it and use it to kill muggle born students. It ended up being opened twice and at one point indeed killed a student, Myrtle Warren. It is by luck that the basilisk did not kill more students the second time the chamber was opened. The students it attacked all luckily avoided looking directly at it.The creature was ultimately defeated thanks to another Hogwarts founder, Godrick Gryffindor, leaving behind a sword to be pulled from the sorting hat by a true gryffindor. So the danger built into the school by one founder was ultimately protected against by something built into the school by another founder but not before endangering several students and killing one. 

Sirius Black communicates with Harry Potter in secret by using the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. At least once Black broke into somebody’s house to access a fireplace to talk to Potter. This just makes me wonder why he did not use this method to break in the previous year when he was trying to. If there were protections in place to prevent it that year, perhaps they should have stayed in place. Having a dormitory attached to the Floo network almost seems like inviting intruders in. Hogwarts has protections against people apparating on school grounds yet apparently nothing keeping people from entering the dorms through fireplaces. 

Hogwarts has a plant called the Whomping Willow that can hurt people who get too close to it. It was put in originally to protect people from a werewolf but is also somewhat dangerous. The grounds also have vicious mermaids and a giant squid. Hogwarts has also had a few teachers who were trying to harm students. Quirell let a troll in, which is apparently pretty easy. Dumbledore did handle this pretty well, sending students back to the dorms while he led the teachers to try and find the troll and deal with it. In another instance of a teacher being up to no good, Crouch Jr disguised himself as Alastor Moody for a year in a conspiracy to send a student to Voldemort to kill him, which ended up getting another student, Cedric Diggory, killed in the crossfire. 

Despite all these dangers, Cedric Diggory and Myrtle Warren are the only student deaths we know about. Student injuries are easily treated by Madame Pomfrey. Apart from a few anomalies, Hogwarts ultimately is successful at keeping students safe. Sometimes a lot of luck is involved in students staying safe. When the basilisk attacked multiple students one year, it was by luck none of them looked at it directly and thus all survived. Hogwarts began having to take extreme lockdown measures to prevent attacks, having students in their dorms at all times outside class and being escorted by teachers to every class. An interesting feature Hogwarts has for protection is suits of armour, which can be animated to move on their own and help protect the school from an attack by evil forces. Another strange security feature is introduced in the Cursed Child play, which I do not consider canon but since it technically is canon, I feel I must mention it for completion’s sake. The witch who pushes the candy trolley on the train to Hogwarts is there to stop students from escaping and turns her hands into spikes to scare students who try to escape and throw pumpkin pastry grenades. She was unsuccessful at stopping the escape of Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy but successful at stopping previous escape attempts. 

Overall, Hogwarts has a lot of bizarre dangers but also a lot of interesting safety measures. Through a combination of these measures and sheer dumb luck, as McGonagall might say, students are kept mostly safe. 

Dorm Life

Hogwarts is a boarding school. Students from Ages 11-18 go there and have limited supervision. They are away from their parents and live in dorm rooms with peers their own age. They only return home to their families during Christmas holidays and summer holidays. I have no personal experience with boarding school. I have seen other fans online criticize Hogwarts for taking students away from their families. It works out well for our main character, Harry Potter, that Hogwarts gets him away from his abusive family. But it feels a bit unfortunate for the other characters who have loving families that they are distant from them for most of the year. I am not entirely sure how to feel about it. I am hesitant to say it is wrong, boarding schools do exist in real life an I am not very knowledgable about the experience and whether it is positive or negative for students. It does seem a little unfortunate to me that Hogwarts is essentially the only option for young wizards and witches in Britain, there is no option for parents to send their kids to a non-boarding school and keep them at home for most of the year. It seems a little strange that the wizarding world uses boarding schools when they have so many easy transportation methods, kids could be going home every night. Perhaps it is set up the way it is to accommodate muggle born students so they are not the only ones having to stay in the dorms. Or perhaps it is just wizard culture, they value kids having the experience of living in the dorms and connecting with new friends that way. In a way, I did have the same experience, just later in life. I left home to go to school and live in dorms, but when I was almost eighteen instead of when I was eleven. In Wizarding Britain, it is just a part of their culture that kids leave home at eleven and gain some independence, just like in many cultures they leave home at eighteen.

At Hogwarts, each dorm has a common room where all students lounge about, study, do homework, and engage in recreational activities such as playing Exploding Snap. Sharing leisure with other students can be a good way to form social bonds, which is beneficial for their development. Each student shares a room with others from their gender and year. For instance, Harry Potter shares a room with the other four Gryffindor boys in his year. The location of each house common room is generally kept secret from the other houses. Gryffindor is hidden behind a painting and password protected. Ravenclaw is hidden behind a statue and one has to answer a riddle to get inside. Slytherin in in a dungeon and password protected. Hufflepuff, according to writing by Rowling outside the main book series, is in a basement behind a series of barrels and one gets inside by tapping the barrels in a certain pattern, if one gets it wrong they are doused by vinegar. Each common room is like a secret club only for members of that house. This cements the feeling of being part of a group. 

Students must stay in their dorms after curfew. There are very strict rules against students leaving their dorms after hours, at one point several first years are caught breaking curfew and each lose fifty house points and get detention. However, there does not seem to be rule that they actually have to stay in bed after hours, at least not a rule that is strictly enforced. Students seem to be allowed to stay in the dorm common room as late as they want. It seems a bit unorthodox to allow children as young as eleven to decide their own bedtime but I am actually okay with it. I think eleven is old enough to let kids start making their own mistakes and learning from them. By being allowed to stay up late, students face the natural consequences of sleeping in and missing classes or being tired throughout the day and then they learn how to be responsible and decide their own bedtime without being told. It is a natural way to learn responsible decision making. If students run into trouble, prefects and heads of houses should help guide them to make better choices. 

Students at Hogwarts are usually not supervised by adults at night but they are supervised by student prefects who presumably alert the head of the house (a teacher) in the event of an emergency. There are some rules that are enforced by magic. For instance, there is a magical barrier that prevents boys from going into the girls rooms, by turning the staircase into a slide, but not the other way around. This rule was created by Hogwarts founders because they considered boys to be less trustworthy than girls, according to Hogwarts: A History. I find it a bit of a double standard to protect girls from boys but not the other way around. It should go both ways. If magic is in place to prevent boys from entering girls rooms, it should also prevent girls from entering boys rooms. It makes one wonder what other rules are built into Hogwarts that may be outdated. Magic built into the castle is hard to change and it is easier to just leave things this way. It can be viewed as a metaphor for real life rules and laws that become outdated but are difficult to change. 

We are not given much information on where or how students clean themselves. Bathtubs are only available in the prefects bathroom, reserved for prefects and quidditch captains. Since we can assume all students are expected to clean themselves, we can also assume students who do not have access to the prefect bathtubs have access to shower stalls. I do not think bathtubs should be a luxury reserved for a small number of students. Some people are more comfortable with baths than showers and all students ought to be allowed the option of baths or showers. It is unclear where students shower. There are public bathrooms in the corridors but they seem to only have toilets. I would guess each dormitory has a private bathroom attached with shower stalls, which is also probably where students brush their teeth. Each common room likely has two bathrooms, one for boys and one for girls. Alternatively, it is possible each bedroom has a bathroom, this way each student only has to share the space where they brush their teeth and shower with four other people instead of the entire house. It also makes it so they don’t have to go down to the common room in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. In a prior chapter I talked about prerequisite knowledge students need before attending Hogwarts. My focus was on academic knowledge but I probably should have also mentioned that students need to know hygiene and self-care prior to attending Hogwarts. For some, being away from parents for the first time and having to care for oneself can be a big adjustment. We are not given information on how students do laundry, but Hermione Granger steals clothes from the laundry at one point for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley to wear while disguised as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. This implies a laundry area that is accessible to students. It is unknown whether students do their own laundry or it is done by house elves. I suspect it is the latter. 

Prefects

Prefects are students selected by the headmaster to help enforce the rules and have other responsibilities such as showing first year students to the dormitories. Students are chosen to be prefects prior to starting their fifth year. For each house there are six prefects at a time, a male and female prefect in fifth year, sixth year, and seventh year. There is also a Head Boy and Head Girl who serve as leaders to the prefects, these are seventh year students. One does not necessarily have to be a prefect before becoming Head Boy or Head Girl, for example James Potter became Head Boy without being a prefect first. I thought I had heard somewhere that Rowling’s explanation for this is that being quidditch captain qualifies one to be Head Boy or Head Girl, but I could not find any confirmation of this online. The wiki says that any seventh year student can be chosen. It is implied that someone can be fired from being a prefect (Percy Weasley warns Ron Weasley he could lose his prefect status for being friends with Harry Potter) but there is no known case of it happening. 

Prefects have responsibilities such as patrolling the Hogwarts Express on the way to Hogwarts, showing new students to their dorm rooms, helping decorate the castle for special occasions, patrolling the hallways at night, and helping enforce school rules. The books originally had an inconsistency in them about whether prefects have the ability to deduct house points. We see one do so in book two but there is a part in book five where it says they do not have that power. According to the wiki, a later edition was edited to clarify prefects can deduct house points, just not from other prefects. It is never mentioned if they can award house points. Prefects also have power to confiscate contraband items, give students detention (this is mentioned in the series but we never see a case of it actually happening), and report rule-breaking to the teachers. As far as we can tell, there seem to be no consequences for prefects who neglect responsibility or abuse power. While it is implied that prefects can be fired, it seems to happen very rarely. There seems to be little done by the headmaster and teachers to ensure prefects do their jobs well. However, our information is limited by the fact that the main protagonist of the series is not a prefect. We do not know vey much about how the wok of prefects is monitored or evaluated. 

The role of a prefect is similar to RAs (Resident Assistants), which many university dorms have. I have never been to a school with prefects, but I have lived in university dorms with RAs, so they are my closest point of reference to what prefects do and ought to do. RAs help enforce rules, patrol the halls, give fines, report rule-breaking, help students in need, and help in emergencies. They are meant to be sort of a go to person in the dorm if a student is in need of anything. RAs also usually have to be trained in CPR in case of emergencies. Though it is not stated, I would expect prefects at Hogwarts would go through training to deal with magical emergencies. Prefects also ought to serve as people students in their house can go to for help with things like finding their way around the castle or confiding in about things like homesickness. We do not see prefects perform such tasks but our information is limited so it is possible that they do. In my experience, RAs do not consistently enforce rules. This is probably because they are students being asked to enforce rules upon their peers. They are susceptible to peer pressure and they want to fit in, they do not want their peers to view them as snitches. The same problem applies to prefects at Hogwarts. It is difficult to enforce rules and also fit in socially. Like teachers, prefects have the difficult job of enforcing the rules while also earning respect from students. 

As is to be expected, Hogwarts has some prefects who take their responsibilities very seriously, such as Percy Weasley and Hermione Granger, some who are neglectful of their responsibilities, such as Ron Weasley, and some who abuse their power like Draco Malfoy. Ron Weasley has two troublemaking brothers who tease him for being a prefect, viewing prefects as sticklers for the rules, something they do not respect. Weasley is the type who wants to be liked and does not have the courage to help his fellow prefect keep his brothers in line. Ron Weasley exemplifies the problem of prefects who do not want to enforce the rules if it makes them unpopular. However, he does take his responsibility to follow the rules and be a role model somewhat seriously, as his fellow prefect Hermione Granger talks him out of illegally ordering firewhisky by reminding him he is a prefect. In contrast to Weasley, Granger takes her role as prefect very seriously. Granger is very authoritative and a stickler for rules, she does have moments of hypocrisy where she breaks the rules, but when it comes to enforcement of rules she is fair and enforces rules she believes are necessary. The Weasley twins are basically family to Granger, but she does not let that stop her from enforcing the rules on them. Because they are basically family to her, she knows how to get them in line. For instance, at one point she threatens to contact their mother when other punishments do not work. Social skills are a bit of a weak point for Granger, her adherence to rules makes it difficult for her to connect with others. Perhaps one of the reasons Ron Weasley was chosen as prefect was his social skills, he is generally well liked. Percy Weasley, in contrast to his brother, is not well respected. Percy Weasley was likely chosen as a prefect because he is very adherent to rules and does not care what his peers think of him so he is not afraid to be unpopular by enforcing rules. Hermione Granger is a little better at earning the respect of her peers than Percy Weasley is, she is kinder and friendlier. An ideal prefect enforces the rules, even when it makes them unpopular, this is a strength both Percy Weasley and Hermione Granger have, but an ideal prefect is also friendly, approachable, kind, and helpful. A prefect should not just be about law and order but also be a friend to those in need and connect with their peers. Hermione Granger may be the best example we have, balancing Percy Weasley’s strict enforcement of rules with Ron Weasley’s sociability. She is somewhat weak in social skills, but stronger than Percy Weasley. Being both a rule enforcer and forming good relationships with people is a difficult balancing act. Hermione Granger has been known to break rules at times. She does not enforce rules simply because they are rules, but because she believes it necessary. Granger cracks down on the Weasley twins experimentation with new inventions because she believes what they are doing is dangerous to others. Granger is authoritative but fair and honest. Draco Malfoy, in contrast to Granger, is a bully and uses his position as prefect to push others around, not enforcing rules in good faith. He is authoritarian for the sake of being authoritarian and not because he is trying to do what is right like Granger. Ron Weasley seems to lack interest in the job of being prefect and is lax about enforcement of rules. The prefects discussed here represent the range of types of prefects we would realistically expect to see: Percy Weasley is a stickler for the rules and not very sociable, Hermione Granger is slightly more sociable than Percy Weasley and she is fair in enforcing rules where necessary, Ron Weasley is lax about enforcing rules and shirks responsibility, and Draco Malfoy is a bully who abuses his authority. Of these four prefects, Granger is probably the closest to ideal. 

It is unclear how prefects are chosen, only that the headmaster chooses them, but one would expect them to be students who are trusted by the teachers and very responsible. Adherence to rules is presumably a factor. The headmaster likely looks at disciplinary records when deciding who should be prefects. I suspect teachers, and particularly heads of houses, play a role in recommending who should be prefects. Nymphadora Tonks states that her head of house did not let her be a prefect because of behavioural issues. I would also hope prefects are students who are known for being helpful to others and able to assist students who need help. Prefects ought to be students who can handle the responsibility without being hindered by peer pressure, something Percy Weasley and Hemrione Granger are good at. Remus Lupin suspects he was chosen as a prefect in order to keep his troublemaking friends in line. This makes some sense, as he is someone his friends respect and might be more likely to obey than another prefect, on the other hand it could backfire if he is unwilling to enforce the rules when his friends are involved. In a previous chapter, I criticize Dumbledore for selecting Draco Malfoy as a prefect when Malfoy is a known bully. But in fairness, I do not know if he had a better option. Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle would be no better because they would do whatever Malfoy tells them. Other Slytherins are also bullies, but Malfoy appears to be the worst. Perhaps he was chosen by default because he has so much influence in his house that any other prefect would defer to him. Malfoy is a natural leader in his house, but for all the wrong reasons. He also likely had the support of Professor Snape, his head of house. Dumbldore also may have been pressured to choose Malfoy because Malfoy’s father has influence in the government. Really, the problem is Slytherin House in general needs some intervention, but more on that in the next chapter. I am in agreement with a comment I once saw online that perhaps Neville Longbottom should have been chosen as a prefect. Longbottom showed in his first year that he is willing to enforce the rules, even if it means going against his friends. Professor Dumbledore noticed this and rewarded him for it. Over time, we see Longbottom grow into more and more of a leader. He seems like he would be a prefect who is sociable and is respected by his peers but will enforce the rules without fear of it making him unpopular. Hermione Granger also demonstrated, prior to being made prefect, that she will enforce rules that are necessary for her friends safety even if it makes her friends angry, when she reported Harry Potter receiving a mysterious broomstick she thought might be jinxed to hurt him. 

There is a certain amount of honour and prestige that comes with being a prefect, as it implies a level of trustworthiness and responsibility. It is viewed as a major accomplishment to be chosen as a prefect. Arthur and Molly Weasley reward their children who are made prefects. In his first year, Ron Weasley expresses fear of not being able to live up to his brothers’ accomplishments, in part because some of them were prefects. The Weasley twins are surprised when Harry Potter is not made a prefect and they insinuate that they expected it because of his accomplishments such as wining the Triwizard Tournament. This is strange to me because winning a tournament, though it did test certain virtues, does not indicate to me that someone would necessarily be prepared for the responsibilities of a prefect. Harry Potter himself is surprised not to have been made prefect because of all the things he accomplished, liking facing Voldemort and fighting dementors. While Potter had definitely accomplished a lot at this point, I personally do not see facing danger or proving oneself powerful as necessarily a reason someone should be a prefect. Granted, prefects ought to have an ability to protect people in the face of danger but it strikes me as strange to suggest that should be a main factor in how they are chosen. Potter feels conflicted about his expectation of being made a prefect, wondering if it means he “thinks he is better than others”, as if being made prefect is a measure of value as a person. It seems to me that characters talk of being made prefect as more of a sign of honourable achievements than a responsibility. Potter does not even seem interested in the job so much as the prestige. Characters treat prefect badges as some sort of best student award for who has achieved most, instead of as a position of responsibility. Who gets to be prefect should be decided based on who has the qualities needed to do the job; responsibility, helpfulness, fair-mindedness, ability to model good behaviour, approachability, ability to enforce rules, and leadership. I am not denying Potter has these qualities, I just think his reasons for expecting to be made prefect were a bit misguided. His attitude implies to me that he, and probably others, have a skewed idea of who should be prefects, that people view it as more of an achievement award than a job. It should be noted that Albus Dumbledore admits that the only reason he did not choose Potter was that he felt Potter had too much on his mind already and was therefore not prepared for extra responsibility. It seems somewhat unfair to deny Potter prefect status due to things beyond his control, but it does make practical sense to give the responsibility to people who are able to handle it and Potter may have been going through too much at the time. Being chosen as prefect should not be viewed as a measure of intrinsic value or achievement, it should be about who is best suited for the job. 

With the honour of being a prefect comes special privileges such as access to a special bathroom with a fancy pool-like bathtub, reserved only for prefects, head boys and head girls, and quidditch captains. In my opinion, all students should have access to bathtubs and get to choose whether to bathe or shower, as different people have different bathing preferences. Access to the fancy bathtub should not be reserved for the elite. This is elitism and teaches students that some are more deserving of certain privileges than others. Students already seem to have an attitude that being made prefect is some measure of worth as a person. This ultimately sends a message that some students are better than others and those who are better are worthy of luxury. It ingrains elitism in students. 

Prefects play an important role in maintaining order at Hogwarts and give valuable assistance to the teachers. I believe they also ought to have role of giving assistance and guidance to other students, which they may, we have limited information on that. I believe prefects should be chosen based on the qualities that make people capable of doing the job well and they should not have special privileges that set them apart from others. Students should be taught that being prefect, while it is an honour because it shows certain qualities, is not some measure of intrinsic value and that prefects are not somehow better or more worthy of privilege than others. Being a prefect should be viewed first and foremost as a responsibility, more than it is viewed as an honour. 

Inquisitorial Squad

The Inquisitorial Squad was one of many terrible things implemented by Professor Umbridge during her mercifully brief time as headmistress of Hogwarts. They were a group of students chosen by Umbridge to help enforce rules and have more power than prefects. Members of the Inquisitorial Squad were able to deduct house points even from prefects. They could and did dock points for the most arbitrary reasons, including being muggle born (which is punishing someone for their race, it is inarguably racist) and Draco Malfoy deducted points from Harry Potter stating simply “because I don’t like you”. Members of the inquisitorial squad were chosen because of loyalty to the government, which at that time meant being against any talk of Voldemort’s return. The Inquisitorial Squad was made up of solely Slytherins, who abused their power to take points from all the other houses. 

A group of students helping enforce the rules is unnecessary when prefects already exist for that purpose. Umbridge created the Inquisitorial Squad to further enforce her rules, not the schools’s rules, her own rules, and to oppress students. It was only necessary to her goals because the majority of students and teachers did not respect her. If a group of students exists to enforce rules, they should at least be a balanced group with members from each of the four houses. The Inquisitorial Squad consisting only of Slytherins shows that either Umbridge was prejudiced and intentionally stacked it this way, or that only Slytherins were interested in helping her. A group of Slytherins having power to deduct points from other houses without valid reasons, completely skews the point system in favour of Slytherin. It makes it so the other houses have no chance at the house cup and students therefore do not have incentive to earn house points because Slytherin is guaranteed to win. This ultimately undermines house points as a method of discipline. Of course Umbridge’s goal is not to preserve the house point system, it is to oppress students who are not in Slytherin. 

The Inquisitorial Squad was a terrible idea that gave power to a small group of students who abused the power to oppress others. It achieved Umbridge’s goals, but was bad for Hogwarts. It is good that it was disbanded after Umbridge left. 

Slave Labour

At Hogwarts the cooking, nighttime cleaning, and other chores are done by house elves, most of whom do not get paid and are not free to leave, in other words they are slaves. We do not learn this in the books until book four, causing me to misremember it as a big secret. Actually, Nearly Headless Nick reveals it very casually to students, as if it is not a big deal and he expected them to already know. The book Hogwarts: A History never mentions the house elves. It seems as though the authors were hiding it but, based on the way Nearly Headless Nick talked about it so casually, it seems more like the authors of Hogwarts: A History neglected to mention it because it was so obvious and normal to them that they thought it was assumed. Slave labour is just a given in the magical world. It is strange that Hermione Granger appears to be the only one upset by this. All students who grew up in the muggle world, in a culture that taught them slavery is wrong, should be disturbed by the casual use of slaves in the magical world. It is understandable that those who grew up in the magical world are undisturbed by it. Often people do not question cultural norms until something happens to make them question them. Witches and wizards have accepted slave labour as a fact of life for so long that it does not occur to them to think about the moral implications. However, with so many muggle-borns entering magical society every year, one would think muggle values would begin having an impact on magical society. It is likely that one of the reasons muggle born students are unperturbed by the slave labour is they do not know about it, nobody thought to mention it. After all Harry Potter and Hermione Granger did not know there were house elves at Hogwarts until Nearly Headless Nick casually mentioned it. Perhaps when most muggle-borns do learn of it, they are told in such a casual way that it does not feel like a big deal. Plus house-elves are not human, which makes it easier for people to view their enslavement as normal. 

The ethics of Hogwarts using slave labour is difficult to talk about because the house elves do not want to be freed and get offended by the suggestion they should want it. Is it right to force our ideals on the house elves? The thing is, the fictional universe under discussion was written by someone with some questionable moral viewpoints. Joanne Rowling is becoming more and more known for somewhat fascist and ignorant opinions. The Harry Potter books promote some racist stereotypes and other social justice issues. The portrayal of house elves as happy in slavery and the portrayal of Hermione Granger as ignorant for trying to free them comes across as pro-slavery propaganda. One of the few house elves who want freedom, Dobby, is portrayed as just being strange, harkening back to when it was considered a mental illness for a slave to want freedom. From a doylist perspective (where we look outside the work of fiction), we can absolutely judge the slavery in the series as morally wrong. But I am trying to write this essay primarily from a watsonian perspective (where we look at things in the context of the fictional universe) and in-universe the house elves at Hogwarts do not want freedom. It would be harmful to them to suddenly free them all, they would view it like being fired. Winky develops extreme depression and alcoholism as a result of being freed by her master. Suddenly freeing all of the house elves would not be the appropriate solution, the situation is more complex than that, but perhaps gradually giving them more rights and freedoms would be appropriate. They could be treated more like employees and given benefits. They could be given legal rights and protections from abuse. They could be allowed more freedom to choose who they work for. They are happy in slavery because they have been conditioned for generations and do not know of other ways to live. They can still do the work they enjoy but be granted rights and freedoms. 

Wizards and witches justify enslaving a whole race because the house elves are not human. However, we see throughout the series that house elves are sentient beings with emotions as complex as humans. Dobby feels indignant at the Malfoy family’s treatment of him but guilty about speaking against them. He feels a moral obligation to protect Harry Potter and a lifelong loyalty to his friend. Winky feels affection for the Crouch family and shame at being rejected by Crouch. Kreacher feels vengeful towards Sirius Black for treating him poorly. The Hogwarts house elves feel joy at having visitors and offence at Hermione Granger wanting to free them. All of this shows us that house elves have complex and humanlike emotions. They deserve to be respected and treated like people. Instead, many witches and wizards treat them like objects. Magical society is fine with enslaving them because they are not human but they should not be fine with enslaving a race that think and feel like humans do. The acceptance of slavery primes wizards and witches to be okay with mistreating other species as well as dehumanizing muggles. It teaches them that it is okay to treat different groups as lesser beings even if members of that group have complex humanlike emotions. 

Hogwarts seems to treat house elves pretty well but still ultimately endorses slave labour. What do students learn from this? The ones who do not realize there are house elves learn to expect cleaning and cooking done for them without questioning it, which can lead to entitlement and lack of appreciation. Ones who do know about the slave labour learn that slavery is not a big deal in the magical world and that it is okay to treat another race as lesser, which can lead to dehumanizing attitudes towards other races they may interact with. 

Squib Education

In this essay, I have touched upon issues surrounding rights for various marginalized groups within the magical world including but not limited to; house elves, other magical species, werewolves, muggles, and muggle-borns. One group I have not talked much about is squibs. I considered bringing this up last chapter, when I discussed accommodating students with special needs, but ultimately decided to leave it for this chapter where I am discussing miscellaneous topics around Hogwarts. A question the some fans have brought up, and even written essays about, is whether squibs should be given some form of education at Hogwarts. 

First let us discuss what squibs are and their place in magical society. Just as magical people are sometimes born to non-magical parents, sometimes non-magical people are born to magical parents. These people are called squibs. Squibs seem to be rare but I suspect there are more of them than it seems. Wizard families tend to be embarrassed by squibs in the family and not talk about them much. When Harry Potter first meets Ron Weasley, Weasley mentions a non-magical cousin who works a muggle job and who the family does not talk about much. It is jarring that a family like the Weasleys, who are allies to muggles and muggle-borns, are embarrassed by having a squib cousin. It seems magical society tends to shun squibs and pretend they are not there. Neville Longbottom’s family believed he was a squib for years, leading to his great-uncle putting him in dangerous situations to test his magical ability, as if it would be okay to let him die if he were a squib. I would not be surprised to learn that some magical families have killed their children for being squibs. A blood purist family like the Malfoys, with their disdain of muggles, would kill a squib child at worst, try to pretend they do not exist at best. Arianna Dumbledore was kept hidden from the outside world because of insanity, leading others to speculate she was a squib. This implies that keeping a squib child locked away is something magical families are known to do. It is an awkward situation for a non-magical person growing up in magical society. They have two options: to live in the magical world without magic, basically living as a severely handicapped person, or live in the muggle world and have to hide who they really are and where they came from. Argus Filch chooses the former, working as a caretaker at a magical school while resenting students because they can learn magic and he cannot. Molly Weasley’s squib cousin is implied to live entirely in the muggle world. Another squib, Arabella Figg, chooses to live among muggles but still has a foot in the door of the magical world by working as a breeder of kneazle-cat hybrids for pets for wizards and witches. Both squibs we know of are close with cats but it is unknown if that is because they are squibs or just coincidental. There are no squib students at Hogwarts, as magic is required for a lot of Hogwarts classes. It is unknown whether or not the magical government does anything to help squibs who choose to live in the muggle world, like helping them get jobs and new identities. It is unknown if squib children are given any sort of education or if sometimes they go to muggle schools. Molly Weasley’s squib cousin works in finance so they must have received math education of some kind, possibly in a muggle school. 

To get back to the question at hand, should Hogwarts accept and accommodate squib students? I believe that if they can, they should. Schools should try to serve the needs of all types of students. In real life, people with intellectual disabilities have historically been denied an education, but now schools have programs to accommodate them. Squibs should be accepted as a group of students who have their own set of needs. They require education to either work in the magical world at a non-magical job, or assimilate into muggle society, or maybe a bit of both depending on their preferences. Obviously, a squib cannot take a regular course of study at Hogwarts because they cannot perform magic. However, an alternate curriculum could be designed for them just as real life schools have programs for people who cannot complete the usual course of study. Let us examine the subjects offered at Hogwarts to determine which ones squibs can participate in. They cannot do Charms, Transfiguration, or Defence Against the Dark Arts. They can take part in History of Magic and Astronomy, as they are theoretical. They probably cannot take part in flying class safely. Herbology and Potions are debatable. According to Rowling, brewing potions does require use of a wand at some stages. However, a squib can still do most of the steps and maybe they could have a peer assist them on the steps they cannot do. Herbology is a subject that requires little magic. Neville Longbottom, who once described himself as almost a squib, always excelled at Herbology and ends up teaching it. There might be some aspects that require magic but again, like Potions, a squib may be able to do it with some assistance. Muggle Studies, if taught properly, would be a very useful course for squibs who may want to live in the muggle world or simply learn how to use muggle technology to compensate for lack of magic. Ancient Runes might also be a subject they can do. Arithmancy is another maybe, we are not told how much magic is used or not. Divination cannot be done by most magical people anyway so I see no reason squibs should not be included in learning about it. Care of Magical Creatures is already taught by someone who has an incomplete magic education so it seems theoretically possible for a squib to take the subject. Apparition cannot be taken by a squib. Alchemy probably cannot either. Now let us look at the subjects I proposed in a previous chapter. Magical theory, logic, and ethics could easily have squibs be included. Safety and drug safety would have some components that are not relevant to someone who is not using magic but some components that are still relevant if they live in the magical world. Same goes for magical sexual education, some components may not be relevant to squibs but some components still are. These are courses squibs could take modified versions of, only including the components that are relevant to them. Magical technology and magical home economics may not be able to include squibs, as they require magic. However, squibs probably are able to use some magical items, so altered version of those courses may be a possibility for squibs. I suggested students take at least one of a groups of courses related to arts and culture. Some of those courses I suggested could include squibs; the ones about muggle art and culture, and the ones about drama and literature. The ones about magical forms of art and magical sports and recreation may not be able to include squibs, as they require performing magic. However, squibs may be able to take modified forms of them. Argus Filch helped restore the portrait of the Fat Lady, implying squibs are able to assist in restoration of magical paintings. The subjects I listed under emerging fields of study; counselling, law, and interspecies relations, could all include squibs. As for the ones related to career preparation, squibs could learn journalism and possibly work in government in some capacity, but there are some jobs they cannot do. They cannot be healers or work in magical law enforcement. They probably cannot do magical architecture if spells are required. They can be entrepreneurs but probably not in a business that produces magical objects. However, there could be a course dedicated to learning about what jobs in the magical world squibs can do, and a course dedicated to preparing them for muggle jobs they might want to do. Hogwarts could also offer other courses that pertain specifically to the needs of squibs, such as how to solve magical problems without magic. 

Ultimately, squibs would have to take a different program from Hogwarts’ normal program of study, they would have some courses they can do alongside their magical peers and other courses they may have to take modified versions of. For courses like Charms and Transfiguration, they may be able to do altered versions that just focus on theory. Some courses they may not be able to do at all. There might also be courses designed especially for squibs, such as learning how to integrate into muggle society if they choose to or how to handle magical problems without magic. An educational program for squibs should consult squibs and should be made with needs of squibs in mind. It should help squibs either live in the magical world without magic, assimilate into muggle society, or a bit of both depending on their preferences. There would be a core set of courses they must take, and some electives. A subject like Charms Theory, I think should be an elective. It should not be required, for some it would just be a painful reminder of what they cannot do, but it should be an option for those who may want to understand magic and possibly help advance the study of magic. I cannot decide if I think squibs should be integrated into the four houses or have their own house. Either way, they would have their own class separate from other students but their class could take theoretical subjects like History of Magic alongside other students. Squibs have been denied a magical education for many generations, just as people with certain disabilities have been denied an education, but a magical education is possible for squibs with some modifications to the curriculum, just as people with disabilities are starting to be given a modified curriculum to help include them in education. There is no good reason squibs cannot be included in certain theoretical subjects and contribute to magical society and the evolution of magical knowledge if they so choose. 

Conclusion 

This chapter is getting very long and so I have decided to do like the Harry Potter movies and split the last chapter in two. I have already started work on the next chapter, where we will discuss topics related to discipline at Hogwarts and finally, as I have been promising throughout the essay, discuss the pros and cons of Hogwarts house system. 

So to conclude part one of hidden curriculum and other miscellaneous topics, Hogwarts is a school that is neither all good or all bad. It give students some positive experiences but also some challenging experiences. Students learn lessons about how the magical world works and what to expect, for better or for worse. Hogwarts prepares students for danger and for some of the darker aspects of magical society. Unfortunately, some aspects of Hogwarts fuel elitism and prejudices but Hogwarts is also a place where students form friendships and learn to overcome challenges. 

Chapter Text

Introduction

This chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part is topics surrounding rules and discipline at Hogwarts. Through school rules and expectations, students learn something about society and what it expects from them. They learn morals and values. Therefore it is important to think about what the rules teach them. Discipline is an important and complex topic because how students are disciplined can have a deep impact on their psychological development and their beliefs about justice. It is important to analyze discipline methods and how they may impact students. 

The second part of this chapter deals with the house system. Hogwarts house system is a little different from any real life school in that Hogwarts students are divided into houses based on their personality and values, which has some unique consequences. I do not think the house system is necessarily good or necessarily bad, like anything else it has pros and cons. I wish to explore those pros and cons in detail and let readers decide for themselves if the pros outweigh the cons. 

Rules and Discipline 

Discipline is a difficult subject for me to talk about. One can tell from some of my fan fiction I have written, that justice and discipline are topics I have put a lot of thought into. This is because I have had experiences where I felt treated unfairly and it has caused me to be a little obsessive about the subject. While I am doing my best to be as objective as possible, my opinions about discipline are coloured by emotion about my experiences. I have a lot of biases regarding the topic but I imagine everybody has some biases about it based on their own experiences. I am doing my best to be objective and back my opinions with sound logical moral principles but I am still an emotional being with personal biases. 

Throughout the Harry Potter series, we frequently see students get in trouble for a variety of reasons and so we have a lot of information on the consequences of students getting in trouble. Here we will analyze Hogwarts methods of discipline and how fair they are, and suggest some potential alternative methods. 

Hogwarts Rules

We are never given a comprehensive list of Hogwarts rules in the series but students seem very aware of the rules. We can safely assume students are given a comprehensive list of rules shortly after arrival. Most of the rules are standard common sense rules; no violence, no possession of forbidden items, no going into certain areas without permission, attend classes, be respectful, no cheating on tests, etc…

Some rules are enforced by magical means. For instance, students are given special quills that are enchanted to prevent cheating during final exams. This has practical value but also has the drawback of not allowing students the chance to show if they can be trusted. It sends an unfortunate message that students are not trusted, which can make students see little point in following rules to prove themselves trustworthy. It robs them of the choice to follow the rules or not.

Certain items are forbidden due to being dangerous or disruptive. If students are caught with forbidden items, the item is usually confiscated. First years are usually not allowed their own broomsticks, but exceptions can be made. Items like fanged frisbees are forbidden. Love potions are stated to be forbidden in book 4 and yet there seems to be no indication that Romilda Vane got in trouble for poisoning prefect Ron Weasley with love potion in book 6. I do not know if this is an inconsistency in the books, if the rules changed, or it’s just a case of rules not being enforced. As someone on the autism spectrum, I am very bothered when rules are not enforced. The rule against love potions is a sensible one. Love potions, depending on their strength, take over a person’s will and are akin to a date rape drug. The rule ought to be enforced. 

Students are allowed certain types of pets. Owls, cats, and toads are specifically mentioned as approved pets. Rats are not specifically mentioned as an approved pet but, in practice, they seem to be allowed. I would guess most pets are allowed as long as they are not dangerous. 

Certain parts of the castle are forbidden. Students can roam around freely between classes during the day, except for forbidden areas. At night they have to stay in their dorms. Students generally cannot go into other dorms besides their own and cannot go into teacher’s offices without being invited. They are also forbidden from certain sections of the library, which contain books with restricted material, and from entering the forbidden forest unsupervised. 

Students are not allowed to perform magic in the corridors, only in certain areas. Outside class, they seem to be allowed to practice magic in the dorms. I would imagine there are other designated areas where they may practice magic outside class. 

For the most part the rules at Hogwarts make sense. They protect academic integrity and student safety. Rules help things run efficiently. They teach students what standards of behaviour are expected in magical society; to use magic safely and responsibly and be kind and respectful to others. I would like the rules to be enforced more consistently. None of the rules seem to be ridiculous, that is except for the rules imposed during the reign of High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge. 

Umbridge’s Educational Decrees

During a dark time in Hogwarts history, the government was in denial about the return of the evil Lord Voldemort and was afraid of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore conspiring to rebel against them by saying Voldemort was back. That year, the government sent Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts, ostensibly to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, but really to ensure the subject was not taught. She was also high inquisitor, which gave her power to make changes in the school and fire teachers, among other powers. Her true role was to try and suppress any talk of Voldemort being back and to suppress any attempt to learn defensive spells. During this time, Umbridge, in collaboration with the government, implemented some rules in the form of educational decrees, which she intended as permanent rules. Fortunately, these rules ended up being repealed when Umbridge’s reign ended. Still, I want to take some time to analyze the merits and demerits of these educational decrees and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to education. 

Educational Decree Number Twenty-four: All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

What this basically does is prohibit unauthorized clubs. On the surface, this is actually a good idea. Student clubs should be regulated by some sort of person in authority. We would not want somebody starting a hate group against muggle-borns for example. What is wrong with this rule is the actual intent behind it. Umbridge made this rule to prevent students from working together to learn to fight against danger (the curriculum she is theoretically supposed to be teaching). I am also certain she would have no issues with students forming a hate group against muggle-borns. Student clubs should be regulated. Ideally, a group for learning defensive spells would have a responsible adult supervising. The problem here is the person regulating student clubs has ill intent and uses it to suppress learning. As I talk about later, I am also against expulsion in any less than very extreme circumstances. This does not seem like an empty threat either, I really believe Umbridge would have expelled roughly two dozen students for joining an unauthorized club, had Dumbledore not taken the fall for them. This would be far too extreme of a consequence even if I agreed with the rule. 

Educational Decree Number Twenty-five: The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been placed by other staff members.

This basically says Umbridge, as High Inquisitor, has the final say in any punishments against students. I am pretty sure under normal circumstances, the headmaster has this power. Having a person in authority have the final say on punishments is not bad in and of itself. Once again, it is bad when the person in charge has ill intent. The person in charge of punishments should be someone who is fair-minded and treats everyone equally. I do not think Dumbledore always does an ideal job either, sometimes he allows unfair teachers like Snape too much freedom in disciplining students. Still, in general it its beneficial for the person in charge to have some level of trust in other teachers to fairly discipline students. Umbridge seeks to override other teachers and make all disciplinary decisions herself and she does so because she wants more control. Umbridge makes this rule because she wants to undermine other teachers and take control away from them and to punish students she has a vendetta against. The first thing she does with this power is kick Harry Potter off the quidditch team because she has a vendetta against him.

Educational Decree Number Twenty-six: Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.

This rule prohibits teachers from talking to students about anything other than the curriculum they are meant to teach. This rule appears, on the surface, to be justifiable. We want teachers to teach the curriculum and not get sidetracked, discuss inappropriate topics, or push their own agendas in class. However, once again the intent behind the rule is for Umbridge to control everything happening at Hogwarts and undermine the other teachers. Umbridge wants to control and limit the information students receive, to ensure they are not being told the truth that the government wants to suppress. Even without the goal of censorship behind it, this rule is too restrictive. In my experience as a student, teachers having pre-lecture banter with students, such as telling stories, is beneficial to building a rapport between the teacher and students. Small talk should not be banned. Students should also be able to go to teachers for help with personal problems, especially in an environment like a boarding school where teachers and other Hogwarts staff are the only adults students have to talk to. While there may be some topics teachers should not discuss with students, restricting them to this degree is an overkill. This is the type of rule that comes from out of touch school boards and does not work in practice. 

Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven: Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.

I am generally against censorship. I do not believe students should be banned form reading certain materials, but they should be taught to look at media critically. Once again we know Umbridge has ill intent and is trying to censor students from reading Harry Potter’s interview with The Quibbler. If, for the sake of argument, reading the interview was detrimental to the students, instead of outright banning it, Umbridge should talk to the students about it and examine it critically. Of course she does not do this because analyzing it may prove her wrong and so she tries to prevent students from looking at it at all. Even if, for the sake of argument, we say that the Quibbler has material that should not be allowed in school, I would still say expulsion is far too severe of a consequence for possessing contraband reading material. Expulsion should only be used in very extreme circumstances. Also, if students can be expelled for possessing contraband, a student could plant contraband on another student and get them expelled. At most, the contraband should be confiscated.

One of the lessons to be learned from Umbridge’s educational decrees is that sometimes a rule that is beneficial in theory can be detrimental depending on the intent behind it and on who is enforcing it. Sometimes governments or school boards make rules that seem to have sound justification but are actually detrimental because they are out of touch with how things work in school. Sometimes people who push for legislation are dishonest about their motives and intentions and seemingly justifiable rules can be utilized in harmful ways. 

Hogwarts Discipline

In school, as in life, rules must be enforced. There needs to be consequences for breaking rules because otherwise people would break the rules whenever they want to. Punishment for breaking rules serves multiple purposes: it deters students from breaking the rules again, it serves as an example to other students to deter them from breaking rules, in some situations it can serve to incapacitate the student from further rule breaking, and in some situations it can help the student learn more appropriate behaviour. In some situations, punishment also serves to set things right, for instance vandalism can be punished by having the student clean the mess up. I believe that society has a disturbing obsession with punishment purely for the sake of punishment, with the idea that wrongdoers simply deserve to suffer. Psychologists know that punishment by itself is actually one of the least effective methods of changing behaviour. Punishment teaches that certain behaviours are considered unacceptable but does not teach what alternative behaviours should be used instead. Every behaviour is done with a goal in mind. If the unacceptable behaviour is the only way to reach a goal, the person will persist in it. They need to be taught other ways to reach the goal. Rewarding positive behaviour is as important as punishing unacceptable behaviour. Still we cannot have rules without consequences. A rule is ineffective if nothing happens when someone breaks the rule. Having unpleasant consequences to breaking the rules is vital to maintaining order in an institution such as a school. 

The two most common forms of punishment at Hogwarts are deduction of house points and detention. Hogwarts students are divided into four houses who compete for the House Cup, an idea that has both benefits and drawbacks I will get into in a later section. In order to earn the House Cup, students earn points throughout the year which are magically tallied. Students are able to earn points by doing well in class and other good deeds and lose points for misbehaving. As I said, rewarding positive behaviour is an important part of discipline. Therefore it is beneficial that this system rewards good deeds as well as punishing bad deeds. However, collective punishment is unfair. Deducting house points effectively punishes the student’s entire house, which is unfair to the innocent students in the house. Collective punishment can also lead to students feeling like they may as well break the rules if they will be punished anyway. However, this particular punishment is usually mild, deducting 5-10 points at a time for minor infractions. Since it happens to all houses, it does not significantly harm any one house. The purpose of it seems to be to get students to peer pressure each other to behave. I feel somewhat uncomfortable with this. I see the benefits of utilizing peer pressure to get students to pressure each other into positive behaviour, however there is a dark side to it. Social isolation, getting students peers to turn against them, seems like an overly harsh and mentally damaging punishment. I like to think of Professor McGonagall as a fair disciplinarian but one of the occasions where I believe she is too harsh is when she deducts 150 points from Gryffindor just for students breaking curfew. This leads to social isolation which, although temporary, can be damaging for children’s development. There is also a lack of consistency in how points are earned or lost, teachers like Professor Snape showing blatant favouritism. I think the system could be improved by a clear standard number of points for certain infractions and a standard number of points for certain good deeds, with some leeway still for teacher discretion. Snape should have to be somewhat consistent, instead of deducting points from some students but not from others for the same behaviours. There should also be a maximum number of points a student can lose at a time, any infractions serious enough to lose more than 25 house points should be dealt with by other forms of discipline instead. I do not think the point system should necessarily be eliminated but it should be tweaked. Loss of house points should be a mild punishment for small infractions. More serious infractions should not lead to the entire house being punished for the behaviour of one member. Serious or persistent misbehaviour should be punished by detention or other individual punishments, rather than a collective punishment for the house. 

Detention is the most common individual punishment at Hogwarts. Students who have misbehaved are supervised by a teacher or staff member and usually made to do some sort of task for a period of time. Sometimes this effectively also keeps them from certain privileges such as visiting Hogsmeade or playing quidditch. I am okay with detention keeping students from certain privileges, depending on the severity of the misbehaviour. At one point, Rubeus Hagrid scoffs at the idea of students writing lines in detention, as that does not have any practical use to anyone. While I disagree with students being forced into a dangerous forest as punishment, as was happening at that point, I agree with Hagrid regarding the principle that students in detention should perform useful community service as restitution for damage done. I also think the task they do ought to be unpleasant in order to deter them from further misbehaviour. At one point, Professor Lockhart volunteers to supervise Harry Potter in detention and has Potter assist him in answering fan mail. Lockhart amusingly seems to think he is giving Potter a break. I like to think Professor McGonagall agreed to this because she knew Potter would find it very unpleasant. This was a fitting punishment for Potter because it was very unpleasant for him but it was not cruel, it gave him no lasting trauma, it was just unpleasant as a punishment ought to be. 

Punishments should deter future misbehaviour but should not go so far as to be cruel or traumatic. Argus Filch speaks of how Hogwarts used to use physical punishment, such as hanging by the wrists for a few days. This type of punishment is cruel and traumatizing. I do not support physical punishment at all, I believe it is detrimental to child development, and I am glad Hogwarts did away with it. Still, we see it return twice. When Umbridge gives Harry Potter detention, she makes him writing in his own blood with a special quill that leaves him with a lasting physical scar. A few years later, when the Carrows take over, they physically beat students on a regular basis and force students to beat each other. This, fortunately, presumably stops when Hogwarts goes back to normal. Physical punishment should never be used on anyone, it is cruel, psychologically traumatizing, and usually leads to further misbehaviour.

Other sanctions are sometimes used at Hogwarts, such as confiscation of contraband items and loss of privileges. Of course the lack of diverse extracurricular activities means there are few privileges to lose. There is only Hogsmeade visits and quidditch, which a small number of students are involved in. This is another reason there ought to be more of a variety of extracurricular activities so that more students are involved and have something to lose if they misbehave. 

Expulsion and Threats of Expulsion 

Expulsion is the most extreme potential consequence for breaking school rules. It means being permanently removed from school and not allowed to continue education there. In the case of Hogwarts, it can sometimes also mean confiscation of one’s wand and being forbidden from ever using magic again, as happened to Rubeus Hagrid. Expulsion does not always mean this, Newt Scamander was allowed to keep his wand after being expelled from Hogwarts. The wiki says that this is because Scamander had completed his OWL exams before being expelled but I am uncertain of the source of this information. If we assume this information is true than students expelled in years 6-7 face less severe repercussions than those expelled in years 1-5. Being permanently banned from using magic is an extreme consequence for rule-breaking as it can severely limit one’s ability to interact with magical society. It is almost like banishment from magical society. Hagrid was given a job at Hogwarts and so he found a place in magical society despite being forbidden from using magic. Still being forbidden from using magic is severely limiting for someone who lives in the magical world. Therefore expulsion is a punishment that definitely should only be given in extreme circumstances. 

A lifelong ban from performing magic is a very extreme consequence for a mistake one makes when they are less than sixteen years old. On the one hand, we definitely want to keep magic out of the hands of those who will be irresponsible with it, one the other hand losing the right to do magic is almost like banishment from magical society, an extreme consequence for something someone did as a child. We only know of two students who were expelled from Hogwarts, both over fifty years before the main series begins. Interestingly, they both took the fall for somebody else’s actions. Rubeus Hagrid was expelled because it was believed that he was responsible for the death of another student. If he had actually been responsible for someone’s death, expulsion would be a light punishment. It is unfortunate that the wrong student was expelled, it should have been Tom Riddle. Some argue that Hagrid was rightly expelled for bringing a dangerous creature into the school. Certainly Hagrid should have faced some form of consequence for having a man-eating spider in the school. However, Hagrid meant no harm and did not see Aragog as dangerous. Hagrid should have been educated on the dangers of his actions. Tom Riddle intended to kill people with the basilisk and definitely should have been expelled but he was not caught. Newt Scamander was expelled when he took the fall for Leta Lestrange after an experiment with another forbidden creature endangered people. So both expulsions that we know of were for endangering people by possessing forbidden creatures. The extreme punishment seems to be reserved for extreme cases where people are in danger.

While the only actual expulsions that we know about were for extreme situations where students were in danger, and they were over fifty years before the series began, indicating that expulsion does not happen very often, we see students threatened with expulsion for much smaller offences. Students under the age of seventeen are strictly prohibited by law from performing magic outside of school. I suspect the government really does not care if students perform magic outside school in magical households, they just apply the rule to everybody to not seem like they are discriminating against muggle-borns. On a first offence, students receive a warning. The alleged consequence of breaking this rule twice is expulsion and confiscation of their wand. This is very extreme. It is very easy for someone who is used to performing magic to do so without even thinking of it. If they do it in private, surely there is no harm. I believe it would be unjust to strip someone of the right to do magic for the rest of their life because they performed magic outside of school. Of course we never see this actually happen. It almost happened to Harry Potter, but this was when the government was looking for an excuse to expel him and confiscate his wand. Given we never hear of anyone actually expelled under this rule, I suspect the government and Hogwarts have no intention of actually following through on this threat and in reality only ever give warnings. The reason for this threat is to protect the secrecy of the magical world. The threat of such an extreme punishment is only to make sure students rarely break the rule. I think they believe if students know there are no consequences to breaking the rule, they will not bother following it. It is asinine to threaten expulsion when they have no intent on following through.

The threat of expulsion is frequently used for other small things. Madame Hooch leaves her class of first year flying students unsupervised with broomsticks and threatens that if any students use the broomsticks before she gets back, they will be expelled. Rubeus Hagrid implies that Draco Malfoy will be expelled if he refuses to go into the Forbidden Forrest during detention. After the incident where Harry Potter and Ron Weasley arrive a flying car to school, Professor Snape says that they would be expelled if it were up to him to decide. When a firework is thrown in Potions class, causing a potion to spill everywhere, Snape threatens to have whoever threw the firework expelled. These are just a few examples of the seemingly constant threats of expulsion from Hogwarts. Some of these transgressions are deserving of consequences but expulsion is far too extreme of a consequence. Of course, we can see by how rarely expulsion actually happens that it does not happen as easily as is implied. Surely the Weasley twins would have been expelled for one of their many pranks if it happened for minor transgressions. It appears to me that the threat of expulsion is merely a scare tactic to keep students in line. I am very much against threatening an extreme consequence with no intention of following through. 

I feel like this is also done in real life sometimes: someone in authority will threaten an extreme consequence like expulsion for any rule-breaking and then when they do not follow through, they think they appear lenient. This causes unnecessary anxiety for students and is confusing when the alleged consequences are not applied. It makes students less inclined to take responsibility for their actions. If promised proportional consequences for wrongdoing, students will be more inclined to admit to wrongdoing and accept consequences. If they believe they will be expelled for the smallest transgression, students are more inclined to hide any involvement in rule breaking, making it more difficult for teachers to deal with. Over time, students learn not to take these threats of extreme consequences seriously. In the short run, the extreme threat may make students compliant. But in the long run, when they catch on that the threat is bogus, it actually makes them less inclined to follow the rules because they know the people in authority are not going to follow through on the alleged consequence. Teachers, as well as parents and anybody else in positions of authority, should attach proportional consequences to rules and actually follow through on the consequences. They should not threaten a very extreme consequence they are not actually willing to follow through on.

Natural Consequences, Restorative Justice, and Educational Sanctions 

I am a great believer that the punishment should fit the crime. By this I mean that consequences should be proportional to the crime and also that, wherever possible, the consequence should be related to the crime. When possible, I believe students should learn from natural consequences of misbehaviour. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Hogwarts seems to have a policy where students do not get formally punished when they have to go to the hospital wing as a result of rule breaking, as evidenced by Hermione Granger not getting in trouble when illegally making polyjuice potion tuned her into a cat. Granger and her friends learned from the natural consequence of messing around with advanced potions unsupervised, the natural consequence being her turning into a cat-person. There was no need for further consequences. Natural consequences are what naturally happens as a result of certain behaviours, logical consequences are punishments given by someone in authority. From my perspective, there are consequences that are sort of in between; applied consequences that naturally stem from the situation. For example, being removed from a situation where one is being disruptive. I believe if Hogwarts students misbehave during Hogsmeade trips, for instance, the consequence should be losing the privilege of going on Hogsmeade trips for a period of time. 

While working on this essay, I have also been doing a more serious project involving analysis of Canadian university regulations. Many Canadian universities try to apply educational or restorative sanctions whenever possible. Discipline ideally should teach the student something about why their behaviour was wrong and what they can do instead. For an example of an educational sanction, let us imagine a hypothetical situation in which Hermione Granger did not turn into a cat but she and her friends were caught illegally brewing the polyjuice potion. An educational sanction could be making them research the dangers of polyjuice potion and write and essay on it. Since their intention was to spy on someone, they could also bee made to research and write about the ethics of using polyjuice potion. For another example, instead of Hagrid being expelled for having an acromantula in school, he should have been taught about why such creatures were dangerous. 

Restorative sanctions are when someone is made to set right what they did wrong, to mitigate the damage they may have caused. For an example of this, let us imagine hypothetically if Hermione Granger had been caught stealing ingredients from Professor Snape’s office. A possible sanction that is both restorative and educational could be having her serve detention by helping Snape prepare a new batch of ingredients, show her the cost of replacing the ingredients and the labour involved. This would help her understand the damage caused by stealing ingredients as well as have her take responsibility for her actions by helping fix the damage so someone else does not have to. 

My use of hypotheticals in this section shows that actual canon examples of educational or restorative sanctions at Hogwarts are scarce. I believe Hogwarts ought to use such sanctions more often. Whenever possible, showing students the consequences of their actions is a more effective way to change behaviour than simply using punishment.

Notable Incidents at Hogwarts

In this section, I want to discuss some incidents in which we see students at Hogwarts harshly punished and analyze which aspects of the punishments were fair or not. I really hate to pick on Professor McGonagall but she is one of the characters we see most often giving out punishments and so naturally, she is going to come up a lot. I truly believe that McGonagall never has malicious intent and that when she punishes students, she does so believing it is what is best for their development. Still, there are times I disagree with her and believe she is too harsh. 

Breaking Curfew

At one point, Professor McGonagall catches Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy breaking curfew. As a consequence, she gives them detention and takes away fifty house points from each of them. I will not dwell on this too much in this section because I already stated my issues with it in previous sections. I think taking away 150 house points from Gryffindor for this incident was excessive and it led to social isolation for the students involved, which can be emotionally damaging. The detention was served in the forbidden forest, which I find overly dangerous and potentially traumatizing for young students. I find the punishment for this incident disproportionate and inappropriate all around. There does need to be consequences for breaking curfew, I would suggest taking away a smaller number of house points and detention that is not in the Forbidden Forest. 

The Flying Car Incident

Another incident I wish to look at in detail is when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley miss the train to school and drive an illegally modified flying car to school, being spotted by several muggles. Obviously, letting muggles see magic is considered a huge taboo in wizard society. Their actions were also dangerous and they could have been seriously injured by the whomping willow. Ultimately nobody was hurt but this was a pretty major case of rule breaking, which required punishment to deter Potter and Weasley, as well as any other students, from doing similar things. Hogwarts cannot have students finding creative and dangerous ways to transport to school every year, it could lead to a lot of chaos. It is important that Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore allowed Potter and Weasley to explain their side of the story, rather than assuming it was just to show off as Professor Snape assumed. Understanding a person’s motive for breaking the rules is important in determining what punishment they deserve. There were extenuating circumstances, Potter and Weasley panicked when they were mysteriously unable to get onto the train platform. However, as Professor McGonagall points out, they had the option of sending a letter with Potter’s owl. If Potter had not had an owl, there still would have been the option of staying at the train station and waiting for help. Eventually, Weasley’s parents would have returned or someone would have noticed Potter and Weasley were missing and sent help. Of course it is important to understand that children do not always think rationally. The circumstances warranted some degree of leniency but, since Potter and Weasley ultimately did not have to do what they did, punishment was still warranted. 

For this incident, Potter and Weasley receive a multipart punishment. First, Professor Dumbledore gives them a warning that they will be expelled if they “do anything like this again”, which is taken to mean they will be expelled if they break any more rules at all. Second, Dumbledore writes to their families. Third, Professor McGonagall prevents them from joining the welcome feast in the Great Hall but still ensures they have enough to eat before going to their dorm. Fourth, McGonagall gives them detention. 

Let us analyze each part individually and then discuss whether the punishment was effective or not. First, the final warning. As I stated in a section above, I am against threatening expulsion for small things, especially if those in charge have no intention of following through. Consequently, I am also against final warnings. It adds unnecessary stress to students to think they cannot afford to break any rule ever. It also ignores the possibility of extenuating circumstances. Each incident should be handled on a case by case basis, not just automatic expulsion. Dumbledore himself ends up basically apologizing for this final warning and retracting it after Potter and Weasley break several rules to save the school from the chamber of secrets monster, demonstrating that sometimes there are extenuating circumstances where rule breaking is necessary. As for writing home to their families, this is a practice I have always felt negatively about because different parents or guardians react in different ways. I concede that there are some situations parents and guardians ought to be informed about but I fear some parents and guardians reacting more harshly than others. Some parents/guardians simply do not care and do nothing to discipline their children, as is the case with Potter’s guardians in this instance. Writing to the Dursley’s only serves to painfully remind Potter that his family wishes him dead. If they Dursley’s did care, they would likely punish him in an abusive way when he returns home the following summer. Professor Dumbledore writes to Potter’s guardians with full awareness that they are abusive and may potentially use this as reason to be more abusive. Fans of the books have rightly criticized Dumbledore for allowing the Dursleys to abuse Potter for so long. In real life, schools are supposed to alert the authorities when abuse is suspected. We eventually learn that Dumbledore leaves Potter with the Dursleys because it is magically necessary for his safety. Even so, Dumbledore could intervene and scare the Dursleys into treating Potter better. Instead, he stands by and allows Potter to be abused at home just like he allows Professor Snape to abuse vulnerable children in school when he could intervene. That was a bit of a tangent, the point is Dumbledore writing to Potter’s guardians knowing they are abusive seems to be setting Potter up for abuse or neglect. As for Weasley, writing to his parents is unnecessary given they would be informed of the incident anyway. Mrs. Weasley does discipline her son by sending a howler to publicly shame him. I am not sure if I agree with use of howlers as a form of discipline, publicly shaming a child seems to border on abuse. If howlers were used frequently for every small thing, I think that would be abusive and would also lose its effectiveness. I am unsure there is ever a time howlers should be used but if there is, it would be for major incidents like this one. Of course Hogwarts did not directly have anything to do with the howler other than that they wrote to Weasley’s mother with the intention that she would discipline her son in some way.

Now let us examine how Professor McGonagall disciplines Potter and Weasley. Professor Snape was stationed outside the Great Hall to intercept them. Rather than allowing them to go to the Great Hall, McGonagall feeds the boys elsewhere before sending them to bed. She does not make them go to bed hungry, which is good because a basic need should not be withheld as punishment. She does keep them from joining the welcome feast. Weasley speculates this is to keep them from bragging about driving the flying car to school. I agree with this. I believe McGonagall is concerned about other students thinking this was a cool thing to do and getting the idea to do similar things. To try and prevent other students from repeating this incident, she tries to minimize any fanfare by ensuring they do not get to make an entrance during the feast. Keeping them away from the feast is not so much a punishment for them as a signal to the other students that this behaviour is not acceptable or to be celebrated. Allowing them to arrive late and make an entrance would look to the other students like they got away with it. She is doing what she can to draw less attention to it. As for giving the boys detention, this further ensures that others do not think they got away with it and acts a deterrent from future misbehaviour. Weasley is made to polish trophies while Potter is made to help Professor Lockhart answer fan mail. Giving them separate detentions ensures they do not get to keep each other company and increases their suffering. They are both made to do very unpleasant tasks that make them suffer but not to the point of being traumatizing or cruel. This is how punishment should be, unpleasant enough to deter future misbehaviour but not abusive. 

A question we should ask ourselves is whether these punishments actually helped deter future rule-breaking. Were these punishments necessary and effective? Potter and Weasley continue to break the rules a lot during their time at Hogwarts, usually out of necessity but not always. For example, Potter sneaking to Hogsmeade is breaking the rules when he does not need to. One can argue it was an unfair rule that said he could not go to Hogsmeade but he is still breaking the rules unnecessarily. Punishments do not seem to deter Potter from breaking the rules, they only seem to deter him from getting caught. Indeed, that is one of the arguments behaviour psychologists use against punishment in real life; it deters getting caught more than it actually changes behaviour. Do Potter and Wesley ever break the rules in the same way again? Well they are never really presented with the opportunity to. I would guess that if the same situation arose again, they would use Potter’s owl to send a message to Hogwarts. I do not think punishment was necessary to achieve this, just being told that was what they should have done made it so they would if the situation came up again. In a sense punishment was unnecessary, the boys would have done the right thing anyway had the right thing occurred to them. Furthermore I think more than he was affected by any external punishments, Potter was affected by his internal guilt about getting Arthur Weasley in trouble for having a flying car. His own conscience helped deter future misbehaviour more than punishment could. An issue with punishment is it does little to actually change a person’s internal idea of right and wrong. It is my personal belief that sometimes overly harsh punishment is counterproductive because if a person is focusing on feeling unfairly punished, it detracts from processing internal guilt. What punishment does do, in lieu of changing a person’s internal conscience, is teach the person that certain behaviours will not be tolerated by those in power. I think what the punishments mainly served to do in this case was show the other students that they would not get away with similar behaviour. Punishment by itself is not very effective at changing behaviour but, in an institution such as a school, punishment can be necessary for keeping order by showing students they will not get away with certain behaviours. 

Going by the principles of using educational or restorative sanctions when possible, I would suggest an alternative punishment for Potter and Weasley could be having to write an essay on topics such as safety and the importance of maintaining secrecy of the magical world and giving a presentation to their classmates on why they should not try to imitate them. 

Neville Longbottom and the Lost Passwords

Another interesting incident at Hogwarts involves Neville Longbottom. During the year that Sirius Black was at large and was believed to be trying to kill Harry Potter, Gryffindor tower was guarded by a painting of Sir Cadogan. Sir Cadogan changed the password very frequently, which was a great annoyance to the students. Neville Longbottom got Sir Cadogan to give him the passwords for the week and wrote them down. Unfortunately, Sirius Black got ahold of the passwords and got into the tower with them. Professor McGonagall punished Longbottom by giving him detention, taking away his privilege of visiting Hogsmeade, and not allowing him to know the passwords henceforth. She also probably sent a letter to his grandmother because he receives a howler. 

This all seems very unfair. We later learn that Longbottom is not at fault. He did not leave the passwords lying around, Crookshanks the cat stole them from him. He can also hardly be blamed for needing the passwords written down when Sir Cadogan changes them so often. It seems unfair to punish Lonngbottom when the bizarre and unfair system of ever changing passwords is to blame. Fortunately, Sir Cadogan is also fired from the job of guarding the tower after the incident. To me, Longbottom really does not seem to be at fault and his punishment seems to mostly be a result of McGonongall reacting emotionally rather than rationally. There is a reason we should not punish in anger. Not being allowed to know the passwords and needing others to let him into the tower is very unusual. It is the equivalent to allowing a student to live in a dorm building but not allowing them to have a key to the dorm building where they live. It is a bizarre and somewhat cruel punishment to not let someone come and go from where they live. It also seems a bit dangerous with a supposed dangerous convict on the loose, than again there are security trolls guarding the tower at this point so he is probably safe while waiting outside the tower. Longbottom’s alleged crime is the equivalent to not being careful with your key to your dorm. There would normally be consequences, such as paying to replace the key, but I cannot imagine the consequence being deprived of having a key. Depriving him of the right to knowing the passwords does technically fall in line with the idea that the punishment should be related to the crime, but I am not sure it should apply in this case. It just seems cruel and unusual. People should have a right of access to where they live. I do not think Longbottom deserved to get a howler and be publicly shamed. It is unclear for how long Longbottom lost the privilege of visiting Hogsmeade. The books says “all future visits”. It is unclear if it means for the year or forever. The ban does not end up lasting forever though as Longbottom does visit Hogsmeade in his fifth year. Perhaps McGongall had a change of heart after calming down from the situation or perhaps Longbottom somehow earned her trust back. I think there should always be an opportunity to earn privileges back. 

Quidditch Fight 

Another incident I want to talk about happens in the fifth book when Harry Potter and George Weasley physically attack Draco Malfoy right after a quidditch game. Malfoy was insulting their families but this still does not excuse physical violence. Professor McGonagall responds by giving Potter and Weasley detention for a week. However, High Inquisitor Umbridge decides this is not severe enough and gives Potter and Weasley a “lifetime ban” from quidditch. She also confiscates their broomsticks to ensure compliance. She also punishes Fred Weasley in the same way purely because she suspects he intended to physically attack Malfoy.

Potter and Weasley deserved to be punished. Regardless of what provoked them, physical violence should not be tolerated. McGongall’s punishment of multiple detentions was warranted. That would probably have been sufficient for deterring future violence. Umbridge’s punishment of a “lifetime ban” from quidditch was too extreme. I do think temporary suspension from quidditch for fighting on the quidditch pitch would have been warranted, and been a stronger deterrent, but not a permanent ban. For a first offence of its kind (Potter and Weasley had both been in trouble multiple times before, but not for offences related to quidditch) I think a one game suspension would be sufficient. A “lifetime ban” is too extreme and provides no opportunity for personal growth. A one game suspension would have deterred future misbehaviour while a permanent one just eliminates any chance to show improvement in behaviour. When students are punished so severely, it ceases to be a deterrent, instead students figure if they are going to be harshly punished anyway they may as well break the rules. Umbridge punishing Fred Weasley merely for intent is also unfair in this situation. Sometimes punishment for intent is warranted but not when it is such an extreme punishment for a relatively small crime. Weasley likely regrets not attacking Malfoy, since he would have been punished either way. To add to the injustice of the situation, Vincent Crabbe also committed violence on the quidditch pitch by hitting Harry Potter with the bludger after the game had ended, yet does not receive the same punishment as Potter and the Weasley twins. Instead Crabbe’s punishment is merely having to write lines. Whether he had to write in his own blood, as Umbridge made some students do, is unknown, but I would guess not because Umbridge favoured Slytherins. Giving Crabbe a lesser punishment than Potter and the Wealsey twins for a similar action shows blatant favouritism. Umbridge was most likely looking for an excuse to kick Potter off the team and to exert her power. Fortunately, the “lifetime ban” is apparently lifted after Umbridge is sacked, as Potter becomes quidditch captain the next year. 

Sectumsempra

One last incident I want to talk about is the sectumsempra incident. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy got into a fight in the bathroom and Potter uses a spell without any knowledge of what it does, all he knows is that it is “for enemies”. The spell caused Malfoy to bleed dangerous amounts and become severely injured. If untreated, the effects of the spell could have killed Malfoy. In Potter’s defence, Malfoy attacked first and was about to use the unforgivable torture curse on Potter. Still, there were less dangerous ways Potter could have defended himself. Potter did not know what the spell would do but he knew it did something bad. As a sixth year student, he should have known better than to use magic he did not know the effects of. 

In response, Professor Snape attempted to confiscate the book Potter got the spell from, however Potter hides the book. Snape also gave Potter detention every Saturday for the rest of the year, which effectively prevented him from playing in the final quidditch match of the year. Potter also received a fifteen minute lecture from Professor McGonagall in which she told him he was lucky not to be expelled. Perhaps Potter could have gotten the punishment reduced by explaining that Malfoy was going to cast the torture curse, but it seems Potter was too ashamed to try to defend his actions. 

The threat of expulsion is often used too casually at Hogwarts but this is one instance where it seems warranted. Expulsion is so extreme that I am hesitant to approve of it in any circumstance. I would probably not expel Potter even in this instance, but I would also not strongly object to him expelled. If there is a situation where expulsion is warranted, it is one where a student nearly kills another student by foolishly using magic he does not know the effects of. All Potter knew about the spell was that it was for enemies, which presumably meant it did something really bad. He knew he was gambling with Malfoy’s safety and well-being. Earlier, Potter had seriously considered using this unknown spell on Cormac McLaggen purely for being an annoyance to him during quidditch. The fact that he even considered using it so casually is very dangerous. A student cannot be allowed to pose a serious danger to other students. It is apparently canon that being expelled after completing OWL exams is a lesser punishment than being expelled before that, Potter still would have kept his wand but not continued learning at Hogwarts and not been able to complete his NEWTS (which he did not end up doing anyway). Expulsion is still pretty extreme but I think what he did was bad enough that it would have been justifiable. However, the reason I am against permanent punishment in general is it does not allow opportunity for growth. Instead of expelling Potter, an alternative solution is punishing him in a way that allows him to learn and grow from the experience. 

For the safety of other students, it is important that an incident like this not be allowed to slide. Since Potter was not expelled, some form of harsh punishment was needed to match the severity of the offence. Saturday detentions for the rest of the year seems reasonable. Losing the privilege of playing quidditch also seems fair. For a severe incident such as this, Potter should lose something important to him. It is also makes sense that Snape would try to confiscate the book to ensure Potter does not take any more advice from it. Although Potter did not give the book to Snape, he did stop using it and so the effect is the same. Going by the principles of restorative justice and educational sanctions, an alternative punishment for Potter could have been having to write an apology letter to Malfoy and having to write an essay on the dangers of using unknown magic. These are tasks he could have been made to do during detention. 

Like with the flying car incident, Potter seems more affected by internal guilt than external punishments. I think there are times when overly harsh punishments detract from internal guilt because the person focuses more on the punishment. However, for this incident, I think the external punishment reinforced the internal guilt just the right amount. Potter was sufficiently shamed out of doing that sort of thing again. The main priority of the teachers ought to be ensuring students are safe and so they needed to make sure Potter understood the severity of his actions and would be deterred from endangering others again. 

Closing thoughts on Hogwarts Rules and Discipline

Overall Hogwarts disciplinary system is very old-fashioned and focused on punitive measures rather than educational measures or restorative justice. It is a reflection of magical society as a whole, where criminals are emotionally tortured. It is pretty backwards. I would like to see magical society evolve and embrace educational and restorative measures for discipline. As it is, Hogwarts over-relies on punitive measures and empty threats of expulsion. Students learn to be obedient but do not learn the reasons rules are in place. By using punitive measures over educational or restorative measures, students do not always internalize why a behaviour is wrong. They learn to avoid getting caught breaking the rules more than they learn to obey out of actual respect for the rules. Instead of learning right from wrong, they learn to avoid being caught by people in authority. This creates a mindset that those enforcing the rules are an enemy. 

Most of Hogwarts’ rules are reasonable but very strict. It is the kind of school that teaches students to be very obedient and not question authority or the status quo. Like in most schools for minors, students have no power to contest rules or sanctions that they feel are unfair. They are taught that those in charge have absolute power. I would like for Hogwarts to have some type of system by which students can appeal unfair sanctions. I would also like to see there be some type of student government that can make suggestions regarding the rules. As it is, Hogwarts is very authoritarian, students are taught to accept living in a society where they have little say and must obey the whims of those in power. Discipline also tends to be inconsistent, with certain teachers favouring some students while harshly punishing others. Students learn there is little they can do about injustice. Even teachers who seem to genuinely strive to treat students fairly can be overly harsh at times. 

Hogwarts is old fashioned when it comes to rules and discipline. Fortunately, they have progressed away from physical punishment, apart from a few instances where more authoritarian teachers brought it back, but there is still progress that needs to be made in fair and educational discipline. 

Hogwarts House System

As I have been promising throughout the essay, it is finally time to discuss Hogwarts’ house system. I am not aiming to argue that the house system is good or that it is bad, like most things it had advantages and disadvantages. I merely aim to discuss the benefits and drawbacks in detail and let readers decide for themselves if the house system should remain, be abolished, or be altered. I will also suggest ways it could be modified to capitalize on the benefits and mitigate the drawbacks. 

In Hogwarts, students are divided into four houses. Students in the same house live together in a secret designated space with bedrooms and a shared common room to socialize together. Students in the same year in the same house attend classes together. In most classes, students are in a class with only people from their house. In certain classes, students from different houses are together. For instance, Gryffindors usually have Potions and Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins and Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Students earn points for their house through achievements such as correctly answering questions in class and good deeds such as saving friend from a troll, and lose points when they break the rules. The house with the most points at the end of the year earn the house cup. The houses also compete against each other in quidditch. 

Hogwarts house system is based on British tradition; real life British boarding schools traditionally divide students into houses. According to Wikipedia, houses are usually assigned randomly but sometimes based on the emotional or social needs of the student. Siblings are traditionally placed in the same house. Students compete in inter-house competitions to earn points and also receive points for academic achievements. The main thing that makes Hogwarts house system different from real life schools is the way houses are assigned. At Hogwarts it is not random; there is a magical sorting hat that assigns houses based on one’s personality and values. The house you belong to is considered an intrinsic part of your identity because it says something about the kind of person you are. Some fans argue that it is unfair to give someone a lifelong label based on their personality at age eleven. Albus Dumbledore even says he sometimes thinks sorting happens too early. Fans of the series tend to think of ourselves and the characters as intrinsically belonging to one house or another but, in reality, there are probably a lot of people for whom the Hogwarts house they most identify with changes over time. What one values at age eleven can be vastly different from what one values as an adult. 

Competition

Competition is a double-edged sword. It helps motivate students to achieve things. On the other hand, sometimes people, especially kids, take competition too seriously. It can lead to low self-esteem for those who do not win and to animosity between the groups. Competition between groups of students still has advantages. It serves as motivation for academic achievement and achievement in other areas. At Hogwarts, students earn points for good deeds, like saving a friend from a troll. With some modification and more consistency, the point system could be used to encourage more good ethical behaviour. The point system also helps maintain order and discipline. Peer pressure and desire to win makes adding and deducting house points an effective form of discipline. It is a missed opportunity that Hogwarts does not have more competitions between houses. As I suggested in a previous chapter, they could have chess competitions (which Ron Weasley would excel at), debates, and trivia competitions (which Hermione Granger would excel at) and other competitions for people with various abilities to contribute to. Trivia competitions would be a great way to encourage learning. Hogwarts could be doing so much more to capitalize on the competition for House Cup. But, while healthy competition has its benefits for student achievement, it also has drawbacks. For one thing, students taking competition too seriously can lead to bullying of students who lose a lot of house points or do not do well enough in competitions. Another drawback of competition is creating division, and sometimes hatred, between the different houses. When I lived in the dorms in university, we were divided into ten houses. There were competitions between the houses, most notably during a week called Winter Carnival. These competitions brought a sense of unity and house pride and way to bond with housemates and feel part of a community. On the other hand, taking competition too seriously sometimes led to bullying and too much pressure to succeed. There was also a lot of hatred directed towards one particular house that usually won. We resented them for winning all the time and wanted to take power away from them. That house was basically treated like Slytherin. At the time, I convinced myself the hatred towards that house was justified. I convinced myself that people in that house did morally bad things and deserved the hatred. Looking back as a more mature adult, I now see how childish it all was yet it felt completely justified at the time. Hogwarts students are even younger and less mature than university students and more prone to hating people from a different house. In Hogwarts case, they are sorted into houses in a way that implies people in the hated house really have different morals and values, giving justification to the hatred. Students at Hogwarts feel justified in hating Slytherin because they are told that Slytherins are in that house because they are evil and so deserve the hatred. The only way to mitigate the drawbacks of competition is for the teachers to model good sportsmanship and teach students that competition should not be taken too seriously. Still, kids will be kids and no matter how hard teachers try, there will be an element of kids taking competition too seriously.

Sorting by personality and values

Students are sorted into houses by a magical hat that peers into their mind and soul, which is kind of a creepy ordeal to put eleven-year-olds through, and decides, based on the values of the four founders, which house matches the student’s personality and values. Some students have traits of more than one house. Hermione Granger was almost sorted into Ravenclaw but ultimately sorted into Gryffindor and Harry Potter was almost sorted into Slytherin but chose Gryffindor. Ultimately, the hat allows students to choose what house they want to be in because their choice reflects their values. However, choices made at the age of eleven probably should not dictate the rest of someone’s life. They are children trying to fit in, what they value at that age may not reflect what they value as adults. But sorting them into groups based on a choice made at age eleven forces them to make it part of their identity and hone those values. Someone who decides they value courage must stick to it and cannot back out even if they mature and decide they value wisdom more. They are forced to act like part of their house in order to belong and so the choice they made at age eleven will always shape the direction of their personal development. They are also put into an environment where they are influenced by peers with similar values, ensuring they develop those values further. 

So what are the values of each house? Throughout the books, the sorting hat sings three songs that discuss what each house values. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are the most clearly defined. Gryffindor’s defining value is courage, arguably one the most important virtues because courage is required for doing the right thing even when doing the right thing is difficult. Ravenclaw is defined by wisdom and intelligence, arguably one of the most important virtues for helping decide right from wrong. It may be the most popular house among the fans. I myself consider myself to be a Ravenclaw. Of course, everyone wants to think of themselves as smart. I think it is reductive to view Ravenclaw as being about book smarts. I think true wisdom is a lot more than that. It seems strange on the surface that Luna Lovegood is a Ravenclaw while believing a bunch of bizarre conspiracy theories, but she has a wisdom to her in that she is perceptive of people’s thoughts and feelings and has a positive attitude despite being perceived as abnormal. Hufflepuff’s defining virtue is a little less clear. One of the sorting hat songs describes them as just, loyal, true, and hard-working. That is a bit of a hodgepodge of several different virtues. I take just to mean having a strong sense of justice. Loyal means standing by one’s friends no matter what. “True” can mean loyal and honest. Hard-working is self-explanatory. A lot of sources say loyalty is the defining trait but another sorting hat song leaves out the other traits and just emphasizes hard-working. Still another sorting hat song implies that Hufflepuff is the house for people who do not fit in any of the other houses. Some fans get the impression that Hufflepuff is the weak house, neither the bravest nor the smartest, just the misfits who do not belong anywhere else. Yet, the goblet of fire chose a Hufflepuff, above people in all other houses, as most worthy to compete in the triwizard tournament. So which is it? Is Hufflepuff the house for those who don’t belong elsewhere or are they defined by being hard-working, or other virtues like loyalty and justice? I like to think of them as the house of inclusivity, where anyone can belong. They are hard-working and kind and welcome people with many different virtues. At least that is how I interpret things. 

Now for Slytherin House, the one that has a reputation for being the evil house. One sorting hat song describes them as cunning and willing to use any means to achieve their goals. Another sorting hat song describes them as power-hungry and ambitious. Another sorting hat song describes Slytherin as being the house for those who are cunning and have pureblood ancestry, meaning they are from families of magical people. Pureblood status was very important to the founder of Slytherin house and he even placed a monster hidden inside the school to get rid of muggle-borns, who he considered unworthy to learn magic. Slytherin ideals are rooted in prejudice and excluding certain groups. As far as we know, there are no muggle born students in Slytherin house, however, Tom Riddle and Severus Snape were sorted into Slytherin despite being half-muggle. The other values we see in Slytherin house are generally considered bad. Cunning means using deceit to achieve one’s goals. Power-hungry is a trait with negative connotations because those who crave power tend to deprive others of things. The only value here that can be considered positive is ambition. Personally, I greatly value ambition. I always like to be working towards something and like to be around people who have plans for the future. Ambition is not inherently bad. Power can be used to help people. People can have ambition to make positive change in the world and have careers that help others. Ambition is aneccesary virtue for motivating oneself to action. Ambition by itself, when prioritized above all other virtues, can become bad. When a person is selfishly ambitious and doing whatever they can to gain power for themselves, while not having other virtues to keep them honest, it can lead to disregarding the rights of others and taking things away from other people. I would argue that any virtue by itself, without other virtues to keep balanced, can become bad. Wisdom by itself, without other virtues, can lead to disregarding emotion. Hufflepuff virtues like being hard-working can be bad in excess, you also need a sense of fun. Being loyal is not a good thing if you’re loyal to a bad person, like Voldemort. Voldemort values loyalty. Loyalty should have its limits, you should not support a friend’s evil actions. Gryffindor courage is important when it means standing up for what is right, but that requires having other virtues alongside it to help determine what is a righteous cause to stand up for. I was not going to mention the anti-transgender views of Joanne Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, again but she has gotten worse since I last mentioned it and I feel a need to denounce her again. Rowling believes herself to be showing courage by speaking out against a group she believes is bad, saying what she believes is right when others are against her. Technically what she is doing is courageous, risking her reputation to stand up for a cause. But I believe what she is doing is immoral and resembling the Slytherin value of excluding certain groups. She is spreading hatred and misinformation about a vulnerable marginalized group and hurting them. Courage is only righteous when the cause you are standing up for is also righteous, which hers is not. Rowling is missing virtues like wisdom, kindness, and inclusivity. The point I am trying to make is that each of the house’s virtues can be bad in isolation. Ambition is not inherently evil, but can be dangerous when prioritized above all else. It is possible for a Slytherin to be a good person. A person can go to great lengths to achieve their goals and be a good person, as long as that drive to achieve their goals is accompanied by other virtues. A person can crave power and use that power to help others. A person can also be a pureblood wizard and be a good person, the problem comes when they value blood purity to the point of excluding those who are not pureblood. 

Part of the hidden curriculum of Hogwarts is what students learn from their peers. The house system forces students into peer groups based on similar values and personality traits. Students share classes with people in their own house and share their living space with people in their own house, thus the majority of their social influence comes from their own house. By grouping students based on personality and values, they become influenced by peers who encourage them to hone and amplify the values of the house. The peers you are surrounded by shape your personality development. This is not inherently good or bad, like the competition aspect, this aspect of the house system is simultaneously beneficial and detrimental. On the one hand, it helps students hone positive attributes of their house, on the other hand it influences them to hone negative aspects of their house. It creates an echo chamber effect where students learn almost entirely from members of their own house and are not challenged much by people outside the house with different values. The negative aspects of this are most prominent in Slytherin.

There are ways that the drawbacks of grouping students by personality could be mitigated. One solution is to have more events and extra-curricular activities in which people from all four houses mingle together. Things like school dances, drama club, choir, for other clubs where students are not segregated by house could be good opportunities for this. A debate club where the houses compete could also challenge students to see the perspectives of other houses. There ought to be more opportunities for students of different houses to unite and to learn from one another. 

The Problem of Slytherin

So the question is, are most or all Slytherins evil and if so, why are they evil and what can be done about it? Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house, was evil in that he created the chamber of secrets to kill children who he believed were unworthy too study magic. His heir, Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort, tried too fulfill Slytherin’s plan and went on to seize power and use that power to attempt genocide against those he considered impure. The vast majority of Voldemort’s supporters came from Slytherin house (a rare exception being Peter Pettigrew, who was in Gryffindor). There were a few Slytherins who supported Voldemort but eventually turned against him, such as Regulas Black and Severus Snape. Draco Malfoy also supported Voldemort at first but came to see that Voldemort was evil. In the Cursed Child play, Malfoy has grown up to be a decent person. In the generation of Harry Potter’s children, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy are good people who are in Slytherin. The only major character we see live through Voldemort’s reign who is a Slytherin that does not support Voldemort at any point is Horace Slughorn. Slughorn was teaching at Hogwarts when Riddle/Voldemort was a student and inadvertently helped Riddle by telling him about horcruxes, something Slughorn is deeply ashamed of. Slughorn is a flawed character but he never supported Voldemort and he helped protect the school from Voldemort in the battle of Hogwarts. Slughorn has some prejudices against muggle-borns in that it surprises him when a muggle-born is talented at magic, but he does not hate muggle-borns. Muggle-born Lilly Evans was one of his favourite students and she liked him enough to give him gifts. Slughorn shows Slytherin cunning and ambition by sucking up to students he thinks will become famous and powerful so that he can gain favours from them. This action is somewhat sleazy and selfish but not downright evil. Ambition, when valued above all other virtues, can lead to harmful behaviour but does not necessarily have to. Slughorn can often be kind, pleasant, and helpful and seems to genuinely care about his students despite sometimes using them as a means to an end.

Why is Slughorn so much less evil than the majority of the Slytherins we see in the series? Well, my theory is it is because he predates Voldemort. I think the influence of Voldemort really amplified the worst parts of Slytherin during the time the bulk of the Harry Potter series takes place. By the generation of Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, the influence of Voldemort has tapered off, making the house less evil. During the generation of Harry Potter’s parents, Slughorn was still head of Slytherin house but members of the house were beginning to be radicalized by Voldemort. By the next generation, the majority of Slytherin students were children of people radicalized by Voldemort. Students usually go into the same house as family members, as they grow up with similar values. Slytherins already had the negative qualities of craving power and a tendency to be prejudiced against muggle-borns. Voldemort was charismatic and convinced already power-hungry and prejudiced people that following him in his genocide against muggle-borns was a path to power. He amplified the worst traits of Slytherin and this followed through to the next generation of Slytherins, who were mostly children of those radicalized by Voldemort. By the next generation, some of the negative aspects of Slytherin have lessened because people like Draco Malfoy raise their children better than they were raised. The house system leads to an echo chamber effect. The qualities that students in a particular house have in common are exacerbated by grouping them together to influence one another and not be challenged much by differing viewpoints. This enabled Voldemort to bring out the worst in Slytherin. 

Another factor in why so many Slytherins are evil is reputation can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Slytherins are ostracized by the rest of the school and assumed to be evil. Imagine being a Slytherin student. Maybe you are in Slytherin because of choices you made but being a Slytherin is not something you can change now. The majority of the school ostracizes you and assumes you are evil because of something you cannot change. But your fellow Slytherins accept you and want to help you be great and fulfill your ambitions. Of course you will most likely try to be more like your fellow Slytherins and fit in there. Maybe some brave souls will try to renounce Slytherin, but then they risk being ostracized by their own house and still probably not being accepted by the rest of the school. Of course most students in this position are going to hone those Slytherin values and personality traits. Of course, with no other peers willing to associate with them, they are going to be even more influenced by fellow Slytherins. Of course most Slytherins are going to decide that, if they are going to be seen as evil anyway, they might as well be evil. The way the rest of the school treats them ensures they have no positive influences outside Slytherin, further exacerbating the negative influence of Slytherin. Even nineteen years after the war against Voldemort, Slytherin still has a terrible reputation to the point that Albus Potter fears being sorted into Slytherin. The ostracizing of Slytherin house likely continues to make Slytherin house an isolated echo chamber that strengthens the worst traits.

As I criticized Dumbledore for in a previous chapter, he seems to think of Slytherins as a lost cause, he assumes they are bad and makes no attempt to influence them to be better, allowing the head of Slytherin house and Slytherin prefects to be terrible influences on the house. Severus Snape may have helped defeat Voldemort but he was a terrible influence on Slytherin as head of house, allowing them to get away with immoral behaviour and showing them how to bully other students in class. Draco Malfoy grows up to be a decent person but he was a bad prefect, abusing his power and showing other how to be bullies. Dumbledore is making a critical error by just allowing the evil of Slytherin to fester under his nose. It is a disservice to both the Slytherins and to people they may hurt. Dumbledore knows people in Slytherin have a tendency to be evil and follow Voldemort yet does nothing to try and teach them how to be good, just groups them together and allows them to influence each other to be more evil and more likely to side with Voldemort and possibly produce another wizard like Voldemort. I view Slytherins as a marginalized group in a way. Most do not think of them that way because Slytherins are the source of hatred against multiple marginalized groups within magical society, but perhaps they would not be so hateful if the good guys intervened to help them learn better instead of assuming anyone sorted into Slytherin is a lost cause, ostracizing them for something they cannot change, and thereby allowing their hatred to fester. 

So how can the damage of Slytherin be mitigated? One solution could be to abolish Slytherin house and integrate them into other houses but I think there would be pushback if this was suggested. What I think should be done is the headmaster should work with the head of Slytherin house to find ways to positively influence the students, to teach them why prejudice is wrong and to hone the positive aspects of the virtue of ambition. They should discipline Slytherin students when they engage in bullying behaviour and they should select prefects that will be positive role models for the house. Hopefully, over time, Voldemort’s influence can become a faded memory. 

Conclusion 

Overall, the house system has both benefits and drawbacks. It encourages competition between houses, which is simultaneously beneficial and detrimental, and it groups students in such a way as to be influenced by people with similar values, which is also simultaneously beneficial and detrimental. More can and should be done to mitigate the drawbacks while keeping the benefits. In the final chapter, I will conclude this essay with some final thoughts on what I learned writing it.

Chapter Text

Conclusion

I have been putting off writing this conclusion a little longer than I probably should. Part of the reason is I have been working on other projects, including finally beginning my professional career with a training video teaching police about autism. Another reason is, I guess I am nervous about finishing this project and declaring it complete with nothing left to add. There are areas I could have gone into more detail about, for instance, I think I barely mentioned the caretaker Argus Filch. I also could have talked more about government school boards putting external pressure on the headmaster to do things their way. But this essay is already my longest work on this platform and I could not cover everything. Putting my opinions out there has taken a lot of courage. At least when someone judges opinions expressed in a story, I can hide behind saying the opinions of a character are not necessarily mine. But when I put something out there in essay form, it clearly is my opinions on display for the world to judge. Although I am theoretically an expert on education, it does not mean all my opinions are necessarily right. I am sure other experts may disagree with some of the points I have made. Education is an imprecise science and there are topics within education that are heavily debated. In some of my education classes, we had assignments where we had to debate certain contentious topics. In this very essay, I talk about some of the arguments for and against standardized testing. Both sides of the debate are valid and I am not sure there is a right or wrong answer. I am glad I could use a popular story to help illustrate some of the arguments on both sides. I made at least one factual error about the Harry Potter books; I thought Dennis Creevey was a third year when he was in Dumbledore’s Army but he was actually a second year. I had misremembered him as being one year younger than his brother when he was actually two years younger. I am sure there are probably other errors I made and important things I overlooked because it has been so long since I read the books. For the most part, I used the wiki to fact check myself and occasionally consulted the books directly but some things still likely escaped my recollection. I also overlooked things from the video games, such as more examples of characters with disabilities, because I have never played the video games (except for the GameBoy game of Philosopher’s Stone) and all my knowledge of them comes from the wiki. Not only did I probably make other factual errors, I fear I probably made errors in moral judgement as well. It makes me feel uneasy but than again, making errors is an important part of learning. No doubt some of my opinions will change with time. One mistake I am somewhat embarrassed about is asserting that first-years at Hogwarts are too young for sexual education and that it should start at age thirteen. For many, puberty does begin by age eleven. Aspects of sexual education are appropriate for many different ages. Although, at Hogwarts, first years have flying lessons, which could be a reason to hold off other extra courses until second year. 

This essay was written for fun and published on a platform for fan fiction readers. If I were planning to publish it professionally or submit it as a school assignment, there are some things I would do differently. For one thing, I would properly cite my sources. I figure I gave enough information in the text for people to check my sources if they want to. My main source of information for the Harry Potter franchise was the main seven books. I figure that, for fans of the books, it was usually obvious which parts of the books were being referenced. I clearly stated in text when I used other sources such as the stage play, wiki, movies, video games, spinoff books, or fan fiction. I also stated in text when I used certain sources related to educational concepts, such as the essential graduation learnings in Newfoundland. Some concepts, I just sort of said I learned them in classes. If this were being professionally published, I would have found sources to cite in those instances. Another thing I would do differently is be more consistent with tenses. Throughout this I shifted a lot between past and present tense. In English classes, I was taught to use present tense when speaking about the events of a work of fiction, yet fandom wikis seem to have a rule of always using past tense. Another thing I would do differently is research certain topics in more depth, such as the impact boarding school has on real people and the impact of house systems in British schools. I would also research the Harry Potter video games more. I was vague in this essay about what I consider ethical behaviour when evaluating the Hogwarts teachers. Ethics are very subjective. In a more through essay, I would have a section laying out my criteria for ethical behaviour. Ultimately, too much detail might get a little boring for an audience looking for thoughts on the Harry Potter books and this essay is my longest work on this platform as it is. When it comes to more formal writing, I avoid terms like “good” or “bad” as they are subjective, and instead use more objective terms like “beneficial” or “detrimental”. I figure, for the purposes of this essay, when I say something is good or bad, it is understood to mean that in my opinion it is good or bad. 

Now for some closing thoughts on Hogwarts as a school. If I were hired as a consultant for Hogwarts, there are many changes I would recommend. As detailed throughout this essay, I would recommend some changes to the curriculum. Given the history of the magical world, one of my priorities would be the prevention of the rise of another fascist like Voldemort or Gridelwald. I would look for ways to help students reduce prejudices against muggles, non-human species, and even reduce prejudices against Slytherins. Ostracizing Slytherin house only pushes them into an echo chamber and makes them more likely to become fascist. I would also try to emphasize the preservation of wizard culture but also respect for other cultures. I would recommend Hogwarts stand up for the rights of house elves and gradually give them more freedom. I would also recommend assignments that encourage more creativity and thinking outside the box, rather than just repeating what was learned in class. Though I would encourage creativity, I would also prioritize teaching students to use magic safely and responsibly. I would recommend there be more extra-curricular activities that give a variety of options for students with diverse interests. I would recommend a special program for squib students. I would recommend discipline focus more on restorative and educational sanctions, and less on punitive sanctions, whenever possible. 

In the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter accidentally cuts himself on a piece of mirror and muses to himself that his lack of knowledge of how to heal wounds seems like serious flaw in his magical education. This drawing attention to gaps in Hogwarts curriculum (perhaps they should learn basic magical first aid in the safety class I suggest in this essay) is evidence that Rowling intended Hogwarts to be an imperfect school that children can relate to. Aside from the magical setting and magical curriculum, I believe that Rowling intended Hogwarts to be a realistic school with all the flaws of a normal school. She likely drew upon her own school experiences, both positive and negative.There are parts of the curriculum that seem pointless and there are useful things left out of the curriculum. Some of the teachers are more effective than others. Discipline is often inconsistent and overly punitive. Students are rewarded for conformity rather than creativity. Sometimes ridiculous rules are made by out of touch government officials. These are all flaws that are very common in real life schools. It makes it easy for children to relate to the experiences of Harry Potter and his friends. The series is primarily set in the 1990s and I like to think schools have since progressed in some ways, such as using more educational and restorative sanctions rather than punitive ones. I get the feeling the magical world is slightly behind the times compared to the muggle world. Some aspects of Hogwarts are exaggerations of reality. The house system exists in real life British schools, but Hogwarts amps it up by dividing students based on virtues. The positive and negative consequences of the house system are consequently amped up. While many flaws in Hogwarts are realistic, there are some that I believe are the result of oversights on Rowling’s part. For instance, the lack of extracurricular activities besides quidditch seem to be a result of Rowling not thinking to mention extracurricular activities that Harry Potter is not directly involved in. The lack of explanation for where students without access to the prefect bathroom clean themselves seems like another oversight. Some omissions are understandable; the lack of sexual education is likely because Rowling wanted to keep things child-friendly. 

I have some issues with Rowling, mainly the transphobic views and the depiction of a race with complex humanlike emotions as being happy in slavery (the movies wisely omitted the pro-slavery parts, I wonder how the TV series will handle it), but there is also a lot I admire about her as a writer. There are reasons her work is so popular. She created an imaginative world with likeable characters and well-structured mystery plots. She also mostly succeeded at creating a realistic school with everything that comes with it. I have enjoyed using Hogwarts to discuss issues in education, such as the issues surrounding standardized testing and the struggle between teaching standard curriculum vs a more adaptive curriculum. It was also interesting to look at how teachers from different backgrounds can bring diverse viewpoints to subjects like Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Despite the magical setting and magical curriculum, Hogwarts is, in many ways, a very realistic school and can be used to explore real issues in education.