That makes that H/Hr shipper website that much more annoying. That she does respect the fans and the treats them seriously, and then gets accused of doing just the opposite.

Sorry, meant to answer this before and got distracted - yes, I read the interview shortly after it came out, and I did think JKR came across as very engaging in it. It cracked me up that she'd found one of the sites and tried posting on it and been treated with utter disdain - all "STFU! Who do you think you are, newbie?" type deal. Bwah!

Something that occured to me.....

Hermione is always talking about how you can't apparate/disapparate within Hogwart's.

How come Dobby and Kreacher could?

How come Dobby and Kreacher could?

You read one FAQ and suddenly you know everything:

[link]

bwah

Thanks!

Considering most of wizarding society is so far removed from contact with the Muggle world that they are bemusedly confused by things like batteries and rubber ducks and that there are Muggle Studies classes available at Hogwarts, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch that there are Witch/Wizard -only primary schools.

I would think that the problem with that would be getting the kids to and from school every day. In a village like Hogsmeade, sure, but it seems like there aren't really that many groups of wizard families living close together, and any way I can think of for getting large groups of little kids to and from a school each day would look suspicious to Muggles. They can manage the Hogwarts Express 'cause that's just a few days a year, but I don't think they could really run a school bus....

...though I just remembered that there totally is a magical bus already, so having a magic school bus really isn't that much of a leap.

But wasn't it like that in older times with certain cultures? i.e The Jewish children learning at home until they entered Hebrew school?

I also get the feeling that, for the size of the wizarding community, there aren't that many children. Between the number of Magic kids from outside, the age people reach, and the number of un-sprogged adults, I think I'm not too far off-base. That would make Nursery schools less necessary/possible.

I love the unanswered questions in that interview. I'm sure people all over the web (who aren't embroiled in the shipper wars) are obsessing over what she refused to answer.

But wasn't it like that in older times with certain cultures? i.e The Jewish children learning at home until they entered Hebrew school?

What time period and place are you referring to? I can't remember this being common anywhere in Jewish history that I've studied, but there are plenty of times and places that I don't really know much about.

But, everywhere that I can think of that did have that sort of system, it's been a pretty small subset of the population that did get any sort of education. Like, there would be some kids learning at home until they were old enough for school, but then plenty of kids whose parents didn't have any education, and so they didn't get any education.