Marginal Revolution: The dangers of compulsory education

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The dangers of compulsory education

'Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard,' he replied. 'That was announced yesterday. It's a change because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred. This way, Voldemort will have the whole wizarding population under his eye from a young age.'

Damn, that Voldemort is eeeeevil.

Posted by Alex Tabarrok on August 14, 2007 at 07:08 AM in Books | Permalink

Comments

I laughed so hard that I woke my neighbors when I got to this point in the novel. I'm glad someone else noticed it, too.

Posted by: JH at Aug 14, 2007 7:54:40 AM

Not so much to laugh for me in Germany. It might be, that the summer time has burned some politicians nerves, but an SPD wacko suggested that German children should be in government schools from age 2 - 16...
And this only weeks after the release of Harry Potter 7. That's a coincidence :)

However, since NAZI Germany, we don't have the right to truly pick independent schools, because even private schools have to fullfill the government mandated specs. So, this wouldn't change much, just the time frame...

Posted by: Max at Aug 14, 2007 9:36:05 AM

The pre-voldemort situation reflects the situation in the UK.

You are allowed to educuate your children in state, prve schools, abroad or at home.

What you are not allowed to do is deny your children an education.

Posted by: Biscit at Aug 14, 2007 10:29:47 AM

"What you are not allowed to do is deny your children an education."
That would be hard to do. You would have to watch them all the time. (I am only half kidding.)

Posted by: Floccina at Aug 14, 2007 11:06:52 AM

BTW Home schoolers like to joke that they are the only people mandated to educate the others are just mandated to attend school.

Posted by: Floccina at Aug 14, 2007 11:10:01 AM

After reading this headline first, I thought the next one was "Tabarrok on Dobby" for a moment. That's what being a fast reader does for you.

Posted by: Harald Korneliussen at Aug 15, 2007 3:04:53 AM

but their parents had the right teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred

Like in the U.S., right? Am I missing something?

Posted by: Anderson at Aug 15, 2007 11:59:44 AM

A good quote to show that the compulsory school attendance in Germany would please Voldemort, if he wanted to take over pover here. He wouldn't need to change to much, especially with all the new public security and survelliance laws ...

Posted by: Max at Oct 3, 2007 7:39:19 PM

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