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such_heights) wrote2007-07-03 06:02 pm
such_heights) wrote2007-07-03 06:02 pm
Sorting Essay for H_E
Backdated to spare flists, but for the sake of completeness, the essay I wrote for Hogsmeade at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hogwarts_elite in response to:
We're all in hogwarts_elite so we must agree to some extent with the separation of people into 4 discrete houses. But do you fully support the way JKR did it - splitting prepubescent students based on the qualities they value/will soon value: wisdom, bravery, ambition, hard work? Do you think this is the best way? Discuss. If you disagree, write an essay detailing how you would split the students differently, giving your reasons.
The house system is a tried and tested phenomenon with many advantages in a school environment. It gives pupils a smaller subgroup to feel an increased sense of belonging to, and often ties in nicely with pastoral care – a Head of House may be a less authoritarian figure for students to confide in, or simply a port of call with regard to careers advice and so on. It allows for rivalry and competitiveness that is hopefully friendly and fruitful, and provides an arena where those who may not be able to shine at a school-wide level may still stand out and achieve. Contained within the term 'house' itself is an idea of family, community, and sense of place.
As it is in the real world, so it is in Hogwarts. The Gryffindors, who of course we see the most, have a great sense of camaraderie, and in their stern yet eminently good-willed Head of House they have a supportive leader who seems to be the students' best confidante within the teaching body. House spirit drives them out into the pouring rain to holler their team to victory, and undoubtedly imbues them with a sense of pride that yes, each and every one of them is courageous enough to be a worthy of a place in Godric's house.
Canon also shows us the bonds between the other houses – the Hufflepuffs' loyalty towards their champion, Cedric, and the Slytherins' fierce defence of their house in the traditional rivalries that break out once again during Harry's time in the school. It is notable that the group identity of Ravenclaw House is least explored within canon, though we can perhaps safely put that down to the demands of the plot rather than a deliberate attempt to make the Tower seem less tightly-knit.
Furthermore, it is not as though students are unable to socialise outside their house group – shared lessons go a long way towards furthering inter-house relationships, and as the formation of Dumbledore's Army clearly shows, there comes a point where the school identity as a whole takes over, and the house groups can merge. (Slytherin House's absence from this group is of course significant, and something I shall come on to.)
Thus, the house system at a very basic level could be argued as a positive force, helping to better integrate students into the school community. However, it is the peculiarities of the particular method of choosing the students for each house that prompts the need for this discussion at all.
On the surface, putting students together who share similar life values seems to be a very good idea, one that will aid friendships and create a cohesive learning environment. Yet canon suggests to us time and time again that this sorting process causes a great many problems, as it becomes intimately connected with the wider world of wizarding politics. Before Harry even arrives at school for the first time, characters as diverse as Hagrid and Draco pronounce sweeping generalisations that lead us to believe that all Slytherins are evil and all Hufflepuffs are duffers.
Poor Harry, who after all has spent his entire childhood utterly separate from this world, is already full of preconceptions when he sits down to undergo his sorting, which of course influences his fervent desire not to be placed in Slytherin. If he hadn't been fed a line of thinking in advance that Slytherin is a house filled solely with evil, he might have embarked upon a very different course indeed.
Is that the sole problem, then? If Hogwarts' pupils were somehow able to enter the system without the conscious or unconscious prejudices of their families and friends, would the problems of the sorting system as it stands disappear? I think it unlikely.
The boarding school environment naturally exacerbates and intensifies interactions between the students of Hogwarts, and the time they spend socialising appears to be very skewed towards in-house interaction. This must inevitably lead to a somewhat 'us and them' attitude, as witnessed especially in the Gryffindor common room – perhaps they are a house more likely to put such things into a black and white contest, but nonetheless, it would not be a stretch to guess that in the other three common rooms similar situations can occur, where students are perhaps unwittingly encouraged to consider not just what binds them together as a house, but also what separates from the others. It is not so hard to imagine the intellectual elitism Ravenclaws might possess, and we certainly witness Slytherin disdain to those not part of their own social circle.
Despite shared classes, the house structure feels rigid and inward-looking to a large extent. The motivation behind grouping such similar students together seems a little difficult to fathom – by the Sorting Hat's account, it sounds as though it was devised more as a way for the Founders to resolve their own differences rather than a decision primarily designed to help best educate their students.
The result is four groups of students that seem curiously unbalanced. To group all the brave (and, dare I say, occasionally reckless) teenagers in one place, followed by a dungeon containing all of those who desire power, with a tower full of those most drawn to learning separated from the hard workers of the school. Those assets seem made to be combined, not distilled out into different groups.
Whilst the sorting process offers a great insight into character – which is naturally why it has proved so popular within fandom – its end results are arguably not the most desirable. As I discussed at the beginning of this piece, I would maintain that a house system of some description is a very good way to help students fit into a school, but by splitting each year's intake based on a few base character traits, the as it currently stands at Hogwarts forfeits many opportunities for students to interact with as wide a range of people as possible, and to have their beliefs and values challenged – a crucial part of growing up by anyone's definition, surely. The current level of interaction between the houses does not appear to be enough.
Thus, I would propose a more shuffled way of sorting, so that the mix of students who troop off to their respective common rooms on the first day of First Year had more opportunities to become acquainted with different personality types. There's no real need to segregate eleven-year-olds in such a manner, and as even the Sorting Hat itself believes something's gone wrong, an overhaul of the system is long overdue. The personality-based grouping of teenagers living in close proximity to each other for most months of the year seems to cause more trouble than good.
hogwarts_elite in response to:We're all in hogwarts_elite so we must agree to some extent with the separation of people into 4 discrete houses. But do you fully support the way JKR did it - splitting prepubescent students based on the qualities they value/will soon value: wisdom, bravery, ambition, hard work? Do you think this is the best way? Discuss. If you disagree, write an essay detailing how you would split the students differently, giving your reasons.
The house system is a tried and tested phenomenon with many advantages in a school environment. It gives pupils a smaller subgroup to feel an increased sense of belonging to, and often ties in nicely with pastoral care – a Head of House may be a less authoritarian figure for students to confide in, or simply a port of call with regard to careers advice and so on. It allows for rivalry and competitiveness that is hopefully friendly and fruitful, and provides an arena where those who may not be able to shine at a school-wide level may still stand out and achieve. Contained within the term 'house' itself is an idea of family, community, and sense of place.
As it is in the real world, so it is in Hogwarts. The Gryffindors, who of course we see the most, have a great sense of camaraderie, and in their stern yet eminently good-willed Head of House they have a supportive leader who seems to be the students' best confidante within the teaching body. House spirit drives them out into the pouring rain to holler their team to victory, and undoubtedly imbues them with a sense of pride that yes, each and every one of them is courageous enough to be a worthy of a place in Godric's house.
Canon also shows us the bonds between the other houses – the Hufflepuffs' loyalty towards their champion, Cedric, and the Slytherins' fierce defence of their house in the traditional rivalries that break out once again during Harry's time in the school. It is notable that the group identity of Ravenclaw House is least explored within canon, though we can perhaps safely put that down to the demands of the plot rather than a deliberate attempt to make the Tower seem less tightly-knit.
Furthermore, it is not as though students are unable to socialise outside their house group – shared lessons go a long way towards furthering inter-house relationships, and as the formation of Dumbledore's Army clearly shows, there comes a point where the school identity as a whole takes over, and the house groups can merge. (Slytherin House's absence from this group is of course significant, and something I shall come on to.)
Thus, the house system at a very basic level could be argued as a positive force, helping to better integrate students into the school community. However, it is the peculiarities of the particular method of choosing the students for each house that prompts the need for this discussion at all.
On the surface, putting students together who share similar life values seems to be a very good idea, one that will aid friendships and create a cohesive learning environment. Yet canon suggests to us time and time again that this sorting process causes a great many problems, as it becomes intimately connected with the wider world of wizarding politics. Before Harry even arrives at school for the first time, characters as diverse as Hagrid and Draco pronounce sweeping generalisations that lead us to believe that all Slytherins are evil and all Hufflepuffs are duffers.
Poor Harry, who after all has spent his entire childhood utterly separate from this world, is already full of preconceptions when he sits down to undergo his sorting, which of course influences his fervent desire not to be placed in Slytherin. If he hadn't been fed a line of thinking in advance that Slytherin is a house filled solely with evil, he might have embarked upon a very different course indeed.
Is that the sole problem, then? If Hogwarts' pupils were somehow able to enter the system without the conscious or unconscious prejudices of their families and friends, would the problems of the sorting system as it stands disappear? I think it unlikely.
The boarding school environment naturally exacerbates and intensifies interactions between the students of Hogwarts, and the time they spend socialising appears to be very skewed towards in-house interaction. This must inevitably lead to a somewhat 'us and them' attitude, as witnessed especially in the Gryffindor common room – perhaps they are a house more likely to put such things into a black and white contest, but nonetheless, it would not be a stretch to guess that in the other three common rooms similar situations can occur, where students are perhaps unwittingly encouraged to consider not just what binds them together as a house, but also what separates from the others. It is not so hard to imagine the intellectual elitism Ravenclaws might possess, and we certainly witness Slytherin disdain to those not part of their own social circle.
Despite shared classes, the house structure feels rigid and inward-looking to a large extent. The motivation behind grouping such similar students together seems a little difficult to fathom – by the Sorting Hat's account, it sounds as though it was devised more as a way for the Founders to resolve their own differences rather than a decision primarily designed to help best educate their students.
The result is four groups of students that seem curiously unbalanced. To group all the brave (and, dare I say, occasionally reckless) teenagers in one place, followed by a dungeon containing all of those who desire power, with a tower full of those most drawn to learning separated from the hard workers of the school. Those assets seem made to be combined, not distilled out into different groups.
Whilst the sorting process offers a great insight into character – which is naturally why it has proved so popular within fandom – its end results are arguably not the most desirable. As I discussed at the beginning of this piece, I would maintain that a house system of some description is a very good way to help students fit into a school, but by splitting each year's intake based on a few base character traits, the as it currently stands at Hogwarts forfeits many opportunities for students to interact with as wide a range of people as possible, and to have their beliefs and values challenged – a crucial part of growing up by anyone's definition, surely. The current level of interaction between the houses does not appear to be enough.
Thus, I would propose a more shuffled way of sorting, so that the mix of students who troop off to their respective common rooms on the first day of First Year had more opportunities to become acquainted with different personality types. There's no real need to segregate eleven-year-olds in such a manner, and as even the Sorting Hat itself believes something's gone wrong, an overhaul of the system is long overdue. The personality-based grouping of teenagers living in close proximity to each other for most months of the year seems to cause more trouble than good.