marycatelli (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marycatelli) wrote2017-01-16 11:53 pm
marycatelli) wrote2017-01-16 11:53 pm
magic vs. engineering
One noteworthy difference between Hogwarts and, say, Roke Island in Earthsea. In Hogwarts, everyone studies magic. On Roke Island, the school is for specialists, and not even all sorcerers went.
Which is interesting, because schools are seldom both technical and for everyone. Oh, a school might have home ec or wood-working (at least back in the days when I went to school), but overwhelmingly what school taught was academic subjects. Hogwarts, starting at the age of ten, teaches all sorts of technical skills predominately, and you don't even get to really concentrate on a subject until later grades. Even then it's just one specialized course. It might make sense in a mixed Mage/Muggle world, where all the magically talented are concentrated in magical occupations, but it's not well organized. . .
Hmm. . . perhaps it's not so much the skills as the draining off of magical power. Since we have kids whose powers erupt unpredictably. Still, it's an odd arrangement. I suppose they might have suppressed that little detail when talking with kids -- it's unflattering -- but I think someone would have mentioned it if so.
Pondering a wizard school of my own. It's already more focused than Hogwarts, but I think I may need to indicate more that the characters are only part of the world. Even with magic, you would need other jobs.
Which is interesting, because schools are seldom both technical and for everyone. Oh, a school might have home ec or wood-working (at least back in the days when I went to school), but overwhelmingly what school taught was academic subjects. Hogwarts, starting at the age of ten, teaches all sorts of technical skills predominately, and you don't even get to really concentrate on a subject until later grades. Even then it's just one specialized course. It might make sense in a mixed Mage/Muggle world, where all the magically talented are concentrated in magical occupations, but it's not well organized. . .
Hmm. . . perhaps it's not so much the skills as the draining off of magical power. Since we have kids whose powers erupt unpredictably. Still, it's an odd arrangement. I suppose they might have suppressed that little detail when talking with kids -- it's unflattering -- but I think someone would have mentioned it if so.
Pondering a wizard school of my own. It's already more focused than Hogwarts, but I think I may need to indicate more that the characters are only part of the world. Even with magic, you would need other jobs.