Academics and Socioeconomics:

How Your Pocketbook Determines Your Schooling

If we take a close look at the wizarding school of Hogwarts and compare British boarding schools, it is obvious that J.K. Rowling knows her history regarding the schooling system. It is surprising to read how Rowling managed to make Hogwarts intricate by including socioeconomic statuses among the students. It reflects how boarding schools use to, and continues to this day, to be strongly influenced by a hierarchy of class. As an American reading up on the influences and history of boarding schools, as well as being a future teacher, it is riveting to see the similarities and differences in the British educational system.

As an outsider looking in on the world of boarding school, Americans are naturally going to romanticize the experience, since it seems to be a place of wonder and adventure from the little exposure we’ve had. Our picture is skewed of boarding schools, mostly because those who attend the very few schools available are typically reserved for the very wealthy, or the intellectually gifted and can apply for scholarships. Any additional exposure is most likely from what we read or watch from the Harry Potter series, which “strike[s] deep and lasting resonances” (School Ties, House Points…, 216). As a future educator myself, I was extremely interested to read up more about the schooling system that exists in Britain. I was surprised to read that “the term public school in Britain English denotes a fee-paying establishment, under the control of a board of governors  and not subsidized by the local or national government” (School Ties, House Points…, 201). Although the 1944 Butler Education Act mandated that the country must provide free secondary education to avoid the higher class from receiving the best and most prestigious education, there is still an obvious divide among the Britain education system. Urban schools in the United States also have this system setup, and although they are not boarding schools, the system in cities requires students to take various exams and maintain a certain GPA to get into academically prestigious, pay hefty fees, or be sent to their local (and usually not as prestigious) school.

In the first Harry Potter novel, readers see through the eyes of Harry all the supplies and encouraged extra items that are needed to perform well in school. As far as we know, tuition is covered somehow so the divide of the quality of education due to financial status is not an issue. But it is through material goods and supplies that the separation of class is shown . We can see the see the financial strain and socioeconomic divide when we compare the Wesley family to the Malfoys. A self-conscious Ginny Weasley is not proud of the secondhand robes and materials she inherited from her brothers (most likely), whereas well-off Draco Malfoy is able to provide the newest and fastest broomsticks are given to the entire Slytherin Quidditch team (School Ties, House Points…,208). Although this divide is not a displacement of quality academics, the socioeconomic divide reflects the divide in British boarding schools, and the divide in American school systems as well.