Did Harry Potter Get A Quality Education At Hogwarts?

As the latest film in the popular "Harry Potter" saga hits theaters, Americans are plunging back into the wizarding world once again.

In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Harry is nearing the end of his time at Hogwarts, but what kind of education is he receiving during his school days?

He may have his hands full with everything from Quidditch practice to fending off attacks from He Who Must Not Be Named, but Harry still needs to learn at Hogwarts. After all, Hermoine can't do all his homework for him.

In the post "No Wizard Left Behind," Harvard research fellow Samuel Arbesman argues that Hogwarts is a flop.

Arbesman finds the lack of early education especially alarming:

As near as I can tell, if you grow up in the magical world (as opposed to be Muggle-born, for example), you do not go to school at all until the age of eleven. In fact, it's entirely unclear to me how the children of the wizarding world learn to read and write.

Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss argues that American public schools could learn from Hogwarts' successful model.

Strauss writes,

The array of Hogwarts courses -- required and elective (below) -- has a creative breadth not seen in many a school here in the No Child Left Behind era, in which curriculum has been so drastically narrowed that a lot of kids don't get much history, science or physical education.

According to Strauss, the variety of classes and the focus on experiential learning are things lacking from many American schools, especially as budget cuts scale back curriculum.

Comments

[glitterachi]

06:42 PM on 12/14/2010

Whoever came to this conclusion actually doesn't know too much about the Harry Potter world, it would seem. We actually know from interviews with JK Rowling that prior to starting Hogwarts, Muggle-born children go to standard school, and children born to wizarding families are taught by their parents. This is how they learn to read and write. Once in Hogwarts, they learn magic, obviously, which is how they function in their world. Our science does not apply to them. Potions and Charms and Transfiguration have much more bearing on how their world works than physics or chemistry- potions is in effect their chemistry. And keep in mind, they DO learn history- History of Magic is a required course, no matter how much students might dislike it. They also take flying classes, which in a sense do function as a form of PE class.

[Bobbi2664]

05:39 AM on 11/25/2010

Ok it seems that some people have WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS.When i watch the Harry Potter movies the last thing on my mind is wether a fictonal person recived a quality education.Maybe whats needed is shock therapy for some folks.

[Howard53545]

05:16 AM on 11/24/2010

Harry is a Wizard - he does not need to go to school. Where did Fydor go to school, no school in Middleearth

[Madbunny]

04:06 AM on 11/24/2010

Harry learned that pretty much all you really need to do is wait around for a Deus Ex Machina to solve your problems for you. It appears to be a relatively effective strategy for him.

Also, why is this article in Education? Shouldn't it be in comedy, right next to a bunch of cracked.com articles listing the five worst things about Hogwarts (if it really existed)?

[Danek Greori]

12:35 AM on 11/23/2010

Did Harry Potter get a quality education at Hogwarts? I'd have to say no. Not only do Harry and his friends fail to demonstrate common sense (thought it leads to drama and hilarious results), but they seem to spend a majority of their time solving mysteries and fighting for their lives. The only thing Harry Potter seems to have gotten a quality education in is at "Making a half-assed attempt at not getting killed while not minding your own business and endangering the lives of others"

[mamacat]

06:36 PM on 11/22/2010

When the day comes that our schools teach children how to fly, how to make things appear out of thin air, and how to walk through solid walls, then you can come back and ask me if Hogwarts provided a quality education. Until then, stick to trying to teach kids how to read, write, and do simple math.

[GlennWatson]

07:50 PM on 11/21/2010

What Hogwarts does is provide both the opportunity to learn and high standards. It fosters camaraderie through the House system and provides a challenging, exciting curriculum. Plus I love the school uniforms.

I also like the merit/point system they use

[Venicelady]

07:50 PM on 11/21/2010

And we should CARE whether or not a fictional character received a good education BECAUSE....?

[Benedictus70]

02:25 PM on 11/21/2010

The real question is, do they have wizard universities? Otherwise, why is Hogwarts worth anything beyond being a glorified boarding school? No one cares that you went to Exeter, but they will care if you went to Harvard. What a joke.

[SemperVeritas]

09:38 AM on 11/21/2010

Without rigorous standardized curricula and
constant testing, how are we to know whether
Harry received a good education?

Only massive standardized testing can predict
a young person's future.

It's working so well here in the USA, isn't it?

[Indigo1941]

06:46 AM on 11/21/2010

Embarassing what a professor will scribble for the sake of a publication, in't it?

[chasingstatues]

11:16 PM on 11/20/2010

I've wondered that, about how they learn to read, write and do math. Then I remembered that these are children's books and it really doesn't matter.

[Bodkinvanhorn]

07:39 PM on 11/21/2010

My thoughts exactly.

[zeabow]

09:29 PM on 11/20/2010

Sorry, wrong subject ...

Z

[isis]

09:09 PM on 11/20/2010

The education the students get is much like that students get in lab courses in college. Chemistry is descended from alchemy and it is very hands-on.

[deweydecimal]

05:38 PM on 11/20/2010

The only thing I got from this is that Harvard research fellows have declined in quality and/or have too much time on their hands.