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So - just to get this out of the way before I start this entry - I am very aware of how huge of a dork I am. I just can't help it. That being said, let me share with you the brainstorming I've been doing the past several days.
Since I finished reading Harry Potter 6, I've been thinking about what a magic school in America would be like. After all, she talks about schools in Europe, but makes no mention of US schools, and you've got to figure that with all the people in America some of them are bound to be witches and wizards. I've actually been thinking about this for a while, and I think Robin and/or Katie have talked about it with me. Anyway, I've been writing down my ideas on how I think an American school would work, and this is what I've come up with so far.
Brainstorming - American School of Magic
Things to consider-
-What would the name(s) be?
-Where would the school(s) be located?
-Which state(s)?
-Rural, City, or Suburban location?
-What would the uniforms look like?
-How would the teaching be structured?
-Which grade levels?
-Which subjects?
-How will the students be separated?
-Houses, majors, grade level?
-separation of lower grades from higher grades?
-School colors?
-School emblem/insignia/logo?
-One school, or several? How many?
-If houses…
-How many?
-Names?
-How were they formed? Their history?
-At which point do the students join the houses?
-How do the students join the houses?
-If majors…
-What majors?
-How do the students decide their major?
-When do the students decide their major?
-Can you switch?
-What are the school rules and regulations?
-How much is tuition? Or would it be free?
Those are all the questions I can think of right now, and these are the answers I've come up with to my own questions...
The way I see it, an American school of magic would be set up kind of like our college system. Students would have majors or concentrations to choose from, and in deciding to choose a major they would determine what they’d like their education to be focused around. Naturally, their major would be the main focus of their studies, but they would also be required to take a minimum number of classes in various other fields of magic (kind of like general education in liberal arts colleges). This would ensure a rounded education and help to avoid ignorance among students.
Hogwarts has 7 years of schooling, but Britain also has different laws and views about maturity. By British standards, an individual becomes an adult at the age of 18, whereas here in America adulthood is considered to be age 21. Therefore, I feel the magic communities in each country would differ on their views. In American wizarding society, adulthood would be reached at 18, therefore the end of their education at an American school would be the age of 18. Americans wouldn’t want their children to start later than British children, though, so the start of their education would still be age 11. So the way I see it, there would be 8 years of education (age 11 to 18). Within these 8 years, it would be divided into a sort of underclassmen/upperclassmen system. Students wouldn’t be expected to choose their majors right away, so the first two years of their education would be without a major. By the end of the two years, they are required to choose a major. To help out with this decision, there would be a tournament of sorts where the students would compete in various games and activities to determine what their strengths and weaknesses are. How they do in the tournament, as well as which major they are personally drawn to, will determine which major they end up choosing.
The housing of the students would be separated into buildings for each major (each major gets their own dormitory). Since the first and second years don’t have a major, they live in their own dormitory (both years together). The first and second year dormitory would be under the control of third year students (they would be the RAs/prefects). This system would be made for a few reasons. First, the third years would have the least amount of work to complete out of the other upper-level grade levels, so they would have more time to put towards helping out the first and second years. Second, the third years are closer in age to the first and second years, and thus would create a closer connection to them. It would be easier for the first and second years to approach a third year student. Also, since the third years only just chose a major, they could give a lot of insight and advice on how to spend your first two years at the school, how to go about choosing your major, and first-hand advice on what to expect in the tournament at the end of your second year. RA duty would be voluntary, and not all third years would be required to do so. If no third years come forward to volunteer for RA duty, then RAs will be chosen by the Dean.
Regarding the majors, I feel that the breakdown of students shouldn’t be as detailed as very specific majors. There would be larger departments, and I believe that students would be divided by these. Then, within the departments, they can choose a more specific path. For example, at Emerson, students may choose New Media as a concentration, but within New Media they have many options for what to do: motion graphics, animation, web design, digital photography, etc. So here’s a list of the departments, with their different majors, that I can think of (note: this is just a preliminary list. It is by no means set in stone, and will surely be added to or subtracted from as time goes on):
Cordimancy (also referred to as Chaos Magic)
The school of emotional magic. This form of magic is based off of channeling raw emotion and using it to bend magic to your will. Just as has been mentioned in the HP books, underaged wizards will sometimes do magic accidentally when they have particularly strong surges of emotion, like fear and anger. This school of magic teaches witches and wizards to draw from those emotions to create magic without using spellcasting. This sort of magic yields stronger results, since raw emotion is a powerful thing, but the drawback is that it is much harder to control. Anger, for instance, is particularly powerful but hard to keep under control. Applicants to this major are chosen very carefully by the staff. It takes a wizard with incredible control of his emotions to become a successful cordimancer(chaos mage).
Aegimancy
The school of defensive magic. Students in this school learn defensive spells to protect against attacks, sort of like the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in HP on a much larger scale. Not only do students learn defensive spells, they also learn charms, potions, transfiguration, and other methods to protect themselves. Though the major is focused on defense, it is also important to learn and recognize what you will be guarding yourselves against, so the students would also learn offensive spells and charms.
Incantomancy
The school of charms and enchantments. This school covers some of the same material covered in Aegimancy, but also includes a much wider scope. Whereas Aegimancy is geared towards mortal protection, Incantomancy is concerned with all sorts of charms for any number of tasks, including solving real-world problems. Students in this major would learn things like bewitching objects to do menial tasks, or protection charms like the sort of things done to protect muggles from finding out about the wizarding world (Rowling always talks about the sort of protective magic put on things like the Quidditch World Cup grounds, or Hogwarts itself). Students will also learn about the mechanics of charms themselves so that they might be able to create their own.
Medeomancy
The school of curative and support spellcraft. Students entering this major would be the type to go to work in wizarding hospitals, or possibly even work with a team of aurors in case something were to happen to them and they need medical attention. In some regards, they are similar to aegimancers, but the major difference is that a medeomancer's job is to deal with what happens to a person when an aegimancer fails to protect them. Think Madam Pomfrey, or any of the people working at St. Mungo's.
Anyway, that's all I've got right now. I haven't even written anything about uniforms, though I feel art would be more appropriate for that. I've got some ideas on them, however, I just need to draw them up. But that's it for now.
Hope this hasn't been too dreadfully boring.
Since I finished reading Harry Potter 6, I've been thinking about what a magic school in America would be like. After all, she talks about schools in Europe, but makes no mention of US schools, and you've got to figure that with all the people in America some of them are bound to be witches and wizards. I've actually been thinking about this for a while, and I think Robin and/or Katie have talked about it with me. Anyway, I've been writing down my ideas on how I think an American school would work, and this is what I've come up with so far.
Brainstorming - American School of Magic
Things to consider-
-What would the name(s) be?
-Where would the school(s) be located?
-Which state(s)?
-Rural, City, or Suburban location?
-What would the uniforms look like?
-How would the teaching be structured?
-Which grade levels?
-Which subjects?
-How will the students be separated?
-Houses, majors, grade level?
-separation of lower grades from higher grades?
-School colors?
-School emblem/insignia/logo?
-One school, or several? How many?
-If houses…
-How many?
-Names?
-How were they formed? Their history?
-At which point do the students join the houses?
-How do the students join the houses?
-If majors…
-What majors?
-How do the students decide their major?
-When do the students decide their major?
-Can you switch?
-What are the school rules and regulations?
-How much is tuition? Or would it be free?
Those are all the questions I can think of right now, and these are the answers I've come up with to my own questions...
The way I see it, an American school of magic would be set up kind of like our college system. Students would have majors or concentrations to choose from, and in deciding to choose a major they would determine what they’d like their education to be focused around. Naturally, their major would be the main focus of their studies, but they would also be required to take a minimum number of classes in various other fields of magic (kind of like general education in liberal arts colleges). This would ensure a rounded education and help to avoid ignorance among students.
Hogwarts has 7 years of schooling, but Britain also has different laws and views about maturity. By British standards, an individual becomes an adult at the age of 18, whereas here in America adulthood is considered to be age 21. Therefore, I feel the magic communities in each country would differ on their views. In American wizarding society, adulthood would be reached at 18, therefore the end of their education at an American school would be the age of 18. Americans wouldn’t want their children to start later than British children, though, so the start of their education would still be age 11. So the way I see it, there would be 8 years of education (age 11 to 18). Within these 8 years, it would be divided into a sort of underclassmen/upperclassmen system. Students wouldn’t be expected to choose their majors right away, so the first two years of their education would be without a major. By the end of the two years, they are required to choose a major. To help out with this decision, there would be a tournament of sorts where the students would compete in various games and activities to determine what their strengths and weaknesses are. How they do in the tournament, as well as which major they are personally drawn to, will determine which major they end up choosing.
The housing of the students would be separated into buildings for each major (each major gets their own dormitory). Since the first and second years don’t have a major, they live in their own dormitory (both years together). The first and second year dormitory would be under the control of third year students (they would be the RAs/prefects). This system would be made for a few reasons. First, the third years would have the least amount of work to complete out of the other upper-level grade levels, so they would have more time to put towards helping out the first and second years. Second, the third years are closer in age to the first and second years, and thus would create a closer connection to them. It would be easier for the first and second years to approach a third year student. Also, since the third years only just chose a major, they could give a lot of insight and advice on how to spend your first two years at the school, how to go about choosing your major, and first-hand advice on what to expect in the tournament at the end of your second year. RA duty would be voluntary, and not all third years would be required to do so. If no third years come forward to volunteer for RA duty, then RAs will be chosen by the Dean.
Regarding the majors, I feel that the breakdown of students shouldn’t be as detailed as very specific majors. There would be larger departments, and I believe that students would be divided by these. Then, within the departments, they can choose a more specific path. For example, at Emerson, students may choose New Media as a concentration, but within New Media they have many options for what to do: motion graphics, animation, web design, digital photography, etc. So here’s a list of the departments, with their different majors, that I can think of (note: this is just a preliminary list. It is by no means set in stone, and will surely be added to or subtracted from as time goes on):
Cordimancy (also referred to as Chaos Magic)
The school of emotional magic. This form of magic is based off of channeling raw emotion and using it to bend magic to your will. Just as has been mentioned in the HP books, underaged wizards will sometimes do magic accidentally when they have particularly strong surges of emotion, like fear and anger. This school of magic teaches witches and wizards to draw from those emotions to create magic without using spellcasting. This sort of magic yields stronger results, since raw emotion is a powerful thing, but the drawback is that it is much harder to control. Anger, for instance, is particularly powerful but hard to keep under control. Applicants to this major are chosen very carefully by the staff. It takes a wizard with incredible control of his emotions to become a successful cordimancer(chaos mage).
Aegimancy
The school of defensive magic. Students in this school learn defensive spells to protect against attacks, sort of like the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in HP on a much larger scale. Not only do students learn defensive spells, they also learn charms, potions, transfiguration, and other methods to protect themselves. Though the major is focused on defense, it is also important to learn and recognize what you will be guarding yourselves against, so the students would also learn offensive spells and charms.
Incantomancy
The school of charms and enchantments. This school covers some of the same material covered in Aegimancy, but also includes a much wider scope. Whereas Aegimancy is geared towards mortal protection, Incantomancy is concerned with all sorts of charms for any number of tasks, including solving real-world problems. Students in this major would learn things like bewitching objects to do menial tasks, or protection charms like the sort of things done to protect muggles from finding out about the wizarding world (Rowling always talks about the sort of protective magic put on things like the Quidditch World Cup grounds, or Hogwarts itself). Students will also learn about the mechanics of charms themselves so that they might be able to create their own.
Medeomancy
The school of curative and support spellcraft. Students entering this major would be the type to go to work in wizarding hospitals, or possibly even work with a team of aurors in case something were to happen to them and they need medical attention. In some regards, they are similar to aegimancers, but the major difference is that a medeomancer's job is to deal with what happens to a person when an aegimancer fails to protect them. Think Madam Pomfrey, or any of the people working at St. Mungo's.
Anyway, that's all I've got right now. I haven't even written anything about uniforms, though I feel art would be more appropriate for that. I've got some ideas on them, however, I just need to draw them up. But that's it for now.
Hope this hasn't been too dreadfully boring.
Current Mood: 
productive
productiveCurrent Music: DangerDoom - Space Hos
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