Prof Responds: Hogwarts & the Fallacy of Equity

Summary

Critical Magic Theory: "Prof Responds: Hogwarts & the Fallacy of Equity"

Host: Prof. Julian Womble
Date: November 5, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this "Prof Responds" installment, Professor Julian Womble explores listener reactions and deep dives into critical shortcomings of Hogwarts, particularly its failures around equity, inclusion, and real-world preparation. Drawing from post-episode chat comments, the episode examines how Hogwarts constructs and maintains social hierarchies, avoids real-world education, and upholds problematic systems under the veneer of magical equality. Through themes of curriculum, economy, ableism, and the house system, Womble challenges what it really means for a school—and a society—to be "magically" equitable.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Curriculum Failures & Lack of Life Preparation

([05:19]–[16:40])

• Listener Commentaries:

  • Katerina: Criticizes the non-requirement of practical life skills, drawing parallels to Muggle education's assumption of parental instruction and Hogwarts’ similar flaws.
  • Laurian: Notes Hogwarts only teaches "the mechanics of magic," not maturity, citizenship, or critical thinking, and calls for courses like Muggle Studies to be mandatory and engaging.
  • Fenty: Suggests a wizarding equivalent of the UK's citizenship GCSE to cover politics, rights, and societal debates, highlighting the need for education that challenges beliefs.

• Prof. Womble’s Analysis:

  • Hogwarts assumes students will acquire life skills at home, ignoring inconsistencies in students' backgrounds.
    • "It just strikes me that at a certain point, particularly if you're going to be at a boarding school for 10 months... you are going to have to learn how to do some stuff. And I feel like we don't learn any of that at Hogwarts." ([10:55])
  • The school foregrounds the mechanics of magic, neglecting ethics, citizenship, and practical life application.
  • Points to an intentional "ignorance" cultivated by Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic, linking curricular gaps to power preservation and lack of civic education:
    • "They're all ignorant and they're made to be ignorant about this, right? They are taught, like to not ask any questions and just assume and then they have to go work for the very organization they know nothing about." ([13:56])
  • Suggests the system benefits government control and discourages questioning—mirrored in real-world education and politics.

---

2. Gaps in Wizarding Labor & Economy

([17:55]–[27:02])

• Listener Commentaries:

  • April: Wonders how magical careers are chosen, how money is handled, and how mundane businesses exist in the magical world.
  • Nadia/Fenty: Question logistics of food and supply acquisition—do grocery stores or markets exist for wizards? Who provides what house elves can't?

• Prof. Womble’s Analysis:

  • Acknowledges the easy answer is "bad world building" but opts to consider mechanics within the text.
  • Points to dependency on house elves and goblins for menial and financial work, reinforcing magical prejudice and class structures.
    • "There is this such a high level of dependence not only on house elves but on goblins for counting the money... And by things we want you to do, making us not worry about our money, making sure that you all go and can get and you're making pretty things that we can wear." ([22:46])
  • Observes disdain for domestic magic and tasks, showing further societal divides and internalized value hierarchies.
  • Suggests the system is designed for conformity and elitism, not self-sufficiency or communal knowledge.

---

3. Ableism & Treatment of Squibs

([28:06]–[41:49])

• Listener Commentaries:

  • Annie: Sees the exclusion of Squibs as a metaphor for entrenched ableism, noting their forced assimilation into the Muggle world, lack of support, and missed opportunities for inclusion at Hogwarts.
  • Carmen: Highlights that Hogwarts overlooks students struggling to reach magical norms (e.g., Neville), and that many magical or adjacent careers could include those with limited magic.
  • Brit: Points out that wizard supremacy and institutional ideology filter into exclusion, using Muggle Studies as a tool of propaganda rather than empathy.

• Prof. Womble’s Analysis:

  • Argues that Squibs' exclusion is both ableist and underpinned by wizarding supremacy.
    • "Squib removes all of that from you, right? Like in theory you are a pure blood person regardless of your ability to do magic. But the social construct of this blood quantum... removes any bit of your access..." ([33:54])
  • Observes that institutional bias means only certain types of citizens are wanted, irrespective of magical birthright, and that even progressive characters propagate this exclusion ("Ron’s accountant cousin").
  • Uses Filch’s employment as an example: he’s present yet denigrated and given menial, almost servile work most wouldn't want.
    • "His lot at that school is absurd. Why do you need this man to be out here cleaning up like this? It's a magical school, like get somebody else to do it." ([36:36])
  • Concludes Hogwarts maintains both explicit and implicit hierarchies, controlling access, opportunity, and identity.

---

4. The House System & Socialization

([42:47]–[55:36])

• Listener Commentaries:

  • Olivia/Nadia/Fenty: Discuss differing experiences with the "house" concept between the UK, Australia, and the US, noting less competition or personality association in real-life schools than at Hogwarts.
  • Dana: Points to Hogwarts' isolation of students—both physically and socially—and floats the idea of field trips as a remedy.

• Prof. Womble’s Analysis:

  • Contrasts Hogwarts' houses with those in real-life UK or US schools, highlighting at Hogwarts:
    • Houses become core to identity, not just arbitrary grouping.
    • Sorting is based on perceived intrinsic traits; friendship and belonging are tightly siloed.
    • "What Hogwarts is cultivating is not just like, oh, we are organizing the children so that we can kind of take care of them easier... It is, this is who you are, this is what it means to be in this house and you need to live up to that." ([46:33])
  • Inter-house relationships are rare and constructed as novelty, with houses fostering competition, self-perception, and hierarchy ("everybody wants to be in Gryffindor").
  • Argues Hogwarts’ system doesn’t reward difference, but rather uses "color-coded" diversity to reinforce sameness and allegiance to institutional norms.
  • Critique: "It gives students a sense of belonging while quietly sanding down some of that individuality. It's Hogwarts way of saying, see, we do value difference, but only if it's color coded and easy to score points for." ([57:17])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Institutional Collusion
  "If the school is in cahoots with the institutions that are promoting this ignorance, well then you, you've got yourself a perfect storm of foolishness."
  — Prof. Womble ([14:48])

• On Magical Education and Control
  "It all feels like a really big conspiracy to me, the way that all of this operates. Get your tinfoil hats out, y'. All. We're in it."
  — Prof. Womble ([26:56])

• On Ableism and Squibs
  "This has nothing to do with magical ability and everything to do with power and Hogwarts is upholding that."
  — Prof. Womble ([40:31])

• On the House System’s Limitations
  "There's something even more terrifying about being isolated within Hogwarts."
  — Prof. Womble ([50:25])

• On Magic and Equality as Distraction
  "Sameness is not equity. Hogwarts, like our schools and universities, mistakes a shared access for a shared experience. It seems to say you're all magical and that's all that matters. But it never asks how that magic lives differently in each person."
  — Prof. Womble ([56:12])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro/Bop & Episode Framing: [01:13]–[05:19]
• Theme 1: Curriculum Failures: [05:19]–[16:40]
• Theme 2: Labor & Economy: [17:55]–[27:02]
• Theme 3: Ableism & Squibs: [28:06]–[41:49]
• Theme 4: House System & Socialization: [42:47]–[55:36]
• Reflections & Institutional Critique: [55:36]–[1:01:30]

---

Episode Reflection: Prof. Womble’s Closing Thoughts

([55:36]–end)

• Emphasizes the "fallacy of equity"—Hogwarts presents sameness as equality without acknowledging or accommodating individual differences or histories.
• Argues true education requires space for curiosity, critical thinking, and empathetic understanding—none of which Hogwarts genuinely offers.
• Draws an explicit link between Hogwarts’ structure and real-world educational/political systems:
  “Sameness isn’t progress. It’s just a new form of control.” ([1:01:13])
• Urges listeners to question not just "What is Hogwarts doing?" but "For whom is Hogwarts functioning?"

---

Takeaways

• Hogwarts trains students to fit a rigid hierarchy and inculcate dependence, not to question or change systems.
• Overtures to equality via magic or house identity mask deeper inequalities and exclusions.
• The real lesson: Communities, fandoms, and societies must be critical of beloved institutions—not for their own sake, but for the possibility of genuine equity and curiosity.

---

For further participation:
Listeners are encouraged to contribute to ongoing conversations via the podcast’s Patreon and complete the Dumbledore survey Prof. Womble references throughout.

---

Host’s Tone:
Playful, incisive, deeply thoughtful, and welcoming to critical dialogue. Womble blends scholarly critique with community-minded warmth, inviting listeners to dance (figuratively—and sometimes literally, with beard bops) while delving into the hardest questions fandom has to offer.

Transcript

[A]

Limu Emu and Doug here we have the limu emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[B]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[A]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings vary underwritten by.

[C]

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts.

[D]

Save over $200 when you book weekly stays with VRBO this winter. If you haven't seen your college besties since, well, college you need a week to catch up in a snowy cabin. Take a week long vacation and save over $200. Book [e-mail].

[A]

And Doug here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[B]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[A]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry unwritten by.

[C]

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts welcome to Critical Magic Theory where we deconstruct the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble and today we are doing a Prof. Response episode about what the F. Hogwarts is up to. Y', all, thank you so much. For those of you who participated in the post episode chat and to those of you who listened to the episode just we needed a moment. We needed a breather. We needed some time before we dive back into the murky waters that is the one and only Albus Dumbledore. Many of you are procrastinating. Yeah, I clock it. I see what you all are up to as it pertains to getting that Dumbledore survey done. For those of you who have done it, 10 points to your house. For those of you who haven't, I'm not saying I'm shaming you, but I am reminding you that you need to get that survey done. I won't hear any of this. Oh no, I forgot. And what can I. Let's get it done, friends. And some of you may feel attacked by that and well, honestly, maybe you were. Maybe you were attacked. Hmm. Ever thought about that? No, no, no, no attacking, just reminding, just inviting that the survey is ready. I will be posting it one more time on the Patreon so you have a little bit of time if that's what you want to wait for. But time is drawing near and we have to get ready for Dumbledore. In the meantime, between time we talked about Hogwarts and there's a lot to unpack and you all brought so much to bear in the post episode chat. And what's crazy is like you guys brought a lot to bear and there weren't a lot of comments in the chat itself. Many of you were burned out. From Severus Snape, I understand. That's why we had these episodes. Even if you skipped these episodes just because you needed a moment to process, some of you have shared that with me. That's okay. No judgment, no condemnation. Unless you haven't done this Dumbledore survey. In which case some judgment. Some what? Some judgment, some condemnation. Okay. Anyways, I got ahead of myself. We're not even talking about Dumbledore right now. This is not a Dumbledore episode. This is an episode about Hogwarts which feels like an existential extension of Dumbledore. So kind of. But either way, we're here and we have a lot to talk about, y'. All. So without further ado, I hope you are getting ready for the bop. Yeah, I hope you were preparing. It's not a Bob Bop. I think for Dumbledore's episodes we'll do a beard bop. Kind of the same motion but a lot more neck. So you can take this time to loosen your neck up and get it together for the beard bop. But this is. We're still in bonus bop territory, okay? So do a bonus bop. But prepare your chin and your neck for the beard bop. Anyways, three, two, one. Let's bop. We need to talk about Harry Potter. I hope you danced and I hope you practiced your beard Bop. Because once we get into the Dumbledore of it all, the beard Bop. Don't stop till the beard Bop stops. Say that five times. Fast friends, y'.

[D]

All.

[C]

We need to dive right in. There were four themes that came up in these episodes and we are going to get into all of them. And the first one is looking at the curriculum failures and the lack of real world preparation at Hogwarts. Katerina wrote, it's not a requirement in our education system to take a class on learning to do your taxes or fold laundry or cook. There is a home EC class that is optional but not required. You learn from your parents or figure it out on your own. We Muggles assume that everyone will have an adult to teach them these things. And for a decent amount of children, that is not the case for whatever reason, I think Hogwarts is assuming that someone will teach them similar things, even though just like in the Muggle world, that is not always the case. Same goes for perfect hello. Same goes for preparing them for the outside world. There are assumptions being made that all students will have the same resources, which is never the case and it is an extreme disservice to all students. Laurian wrote, I have never thought about Hogwarts in this way. I found it really interesting. I totally agree that Hogwarts is not doing anything really to help the students mature and become good citizens. It is there only to teach the mechanics of magic. It's like it teaches the reading and writing elements but stops that at primary school level. It doesn't teach any critical thinking or citizenship type stuff. Muggle study should be mandatory. History of Magic should not be taught by Bins who turns off everybody? There's no equivalent to so many secondary school level subjects. It's primary school, but the students are 11 through 17. Fenty wrote. One of the courses they need at Hogwarts is a wizarding version of the citizenship GCSE we have in the uk. It covers political systems, how we participate in that system, our rights and responsibilities, the role of the press, that kind of thing. For Hogwarts, they should employ someone who will also go through attitudes to magical creatures, Grindelwald's Rise, however uncomfortable that might make people and debate this in class too. So beliefs are challenged. Ultimately, of course, there should be a second wizarding school in the UK and an exchange student program. You all bring up some really interesting points and I think at the core of it is the idea that Hogwarts trains the students to do magic but not to live with it. Over and over again you all point out the fact that the school stops at teaching the mechanics, the spells, the charms, the magical equivalent of math and reading without any sort of critical thinking, ethics, citizenship or practical life application. And I talked about this in the most recent bonus episode that I did for the Chronic Overthinkers and Deep Divers when we were thinking about Defense against the Dark Arts and thinking about like what the purpose of that class is and how we are meant to understand it and who gets to define what a dark art is and all of these things, right? And it really begs a larger question about the way we understand what magical education is meant to do, who it's meant to help. I think that there's a way in which Hogwarts, like many people wrote in their comments, assumes that people are going to be learning all of this stuff at home but the reality of the situation is, is that they're never there, they're always at Hogwarts. And what else is really crazy to me, and I brought this up in the episode is that like so much of what they are doing is so privileged in terms of the fact that house elves are the ones doing so much of this kind of work. So if you are a Malfoy, you're like, this is like being at home. But if you're not a Malfoy or even if you don't have a mom like Molly Weasley who like is gonna be at home cooking and cleaning and like making sure that you all have what you need. But if you don't have that for one reason or another, how are you going to leave, go get a job at the Ministry and take care of yourself? Like it just strikes me that at a certain point, particularly if you're going to be at a boarding school for 10 months out of a 12 month year that you are going to have to learn how to do some stuff. And I feel like we don't learn any of that at Hogwarts. And what else is interesting and I think that this part of it I think is a bit more intentional. I think that, you know, the point that Finty brought to bear about the need for civic education and how to participate in the world and not just kind of live in it is one that speaks to the fact that like ignorance means that the governmental structure is just more powerful because you have to put your faith in them, you have to believe. But what's terrifying to me is the fact that all of these things are true, that no one really knows how the system works but everyone works at the Ministry of Magic for the most part and they're all alum of Hogwarts. Which is to say that these people are walking out of Hogwarts with very little understanding of what it actually means to be a political citizen. With very little understanding of how the system operates, with very little understanding of how any of this actually works, what the Ministry is meant to do, how it's meant to operate. They're all ignorant and they're made to be ignorant about this, right? They are taught, like to not ask any questions and just assume and then they have to go work for the very organization they know nothing about. And when you know nothing about it, it means that they can pull the wool over your eyes without a problem. And I think that that sounds very like tinfoil hat of me. But when you are operating In a space the way that the wizarding world is where they are actively trying to keep people from entering into the non magical world because they don't want to be abandoned and they don't. And they've kind of fashioned a narrative of victimhood. It's better to keep people not knowing anything. It's because if you don't know anything, you are outlandishly dependent. And the school is supposed to be the place where you kind of jettison that ignorance. But if the school is in cahoots with the institutions that are promoting this ignorance, well then you, you've got yourself a perfect storm of foolishness. Which means that if people aren't asking any questions, you get Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour doing whatever they want. You get the Daily Prophet writing whatever the ministry wants. And everyone has faith in these structures and these institutions because they haven't been taught to question any of it. They get to just buy into this system. And we see that with the trio. There are so many moments in these books and where they are like, they can't do that. They would never do that. No one would ever let that happen. And every single time they can do that, they are doing that and people are letting it happen. And some of that is ideological. Maybe people believe what the ministry is putting forth but some of it is because they haven't been taught to question it. And it just is a cyclical situation in which people are not being taught to think. And I think governments benefit from that. I can certainly see in our own political space where not asking any questions makes your life a lot easier. Not standing up to things that feel like injustice makes things a lot easier for governments to continue to behave and engage in things that are problematic and dangerous, prejudicial and insidious. And so the idea of, you know, the fact that these are things that Hogwarts doesn't teach you. Yeah, because it creates a level of dependency on magic, which means that you can't leave the magical world even if you. And so there's a lot of questions about, like, what is the. Like the relationship between what the ministry wants and what Hogwarts is promoting. And I think in a lot of ways we tend to think of the ministry and Hogwarts as two separate entities until the fifth book wherein we're like, oh, it turns out you all are connected to one another. And we hear Cornelius Fudge tell Dumbledore, like, I've given you a lot of latitude as to how you run your school at the end of the Day though it strikes me that if that is true and Dumbledore has been given a lot of latitude, we really need to start asking ourselves some questions about our progressive king and whether or not he's as progressive as we think he is, or is he just another cog in the system who just happens to be outlandishly influential? But this is not a Dumbledore episode. This is not a Dumbledore. We're not getting there yet, but we'll just stick a pin in that question because I think when we think about what isn't being taught at Hogwarts, the answer is most stuff like everyone walks out and they passed all of these things to be competent in certain subjects. But do we even know how the Minister of Magic gets chosen? Like do you understand what all of these departments are actually for? And I think in the Beggar the bigger question that what you all have brought to bear in the post episode chat introduces for me is does the Ministry of Magic want you to be aware of these things or are they invested in keeping you ignorant and unaware for the sake of their own ability to do whatever it is that they want to do and that you are now trusting in them and you've placed all of your trust in them to keep you safe because you've not even questioned whether or not you're truly in danger, right? The only way that magical people think that non magical people actually pose a threat is if they never engage with non magical people and only listen to the people who are telling you that they are a threat while simultaneously telling you that you're better than them. But you haven't even been taught to question the system. And when Harry does it, it feels revolutionary because everyone's like oh, same thing with Dumbledore. Everyone's like wow. Like that you would question the government and it's like yeah, because they're lying. But you haven't even been taught to be wary of the government and that I think is so telling to me. And so when we think about what it is that you know, the curricular failures of Hogwarts, it is many. And the failure for the real world, I think it's purposeful though. I think the Ministry of Magic is very invested in making sure and ensuring. I think those are the same word, making sure and ensuring anyways that you don't know too much as to not question why they're making the decisions that they're making. And that is very telling and also feels very, very very very very familiar.

[D]

VRBO's last minute deals make chasing fresh mountain powder incredibly easy. With thousands of homes close to the slopes, you can get epic pow freshies, first tracks and more. Find last minute deals with the last minute filter on the app. Book a private vacation rental [e-mail] VRBO last minute deals make chasing fresh mountain powder incredibly easy. With thousands of homes close to the slopes, you can easily get epic pow freshies, first tracks and more. No need for months of planning. In fact, you can't even plan. Pow Pow is on its own schedule. Thankfully somewhere in the world it's always snowing. All you have to do is use the last minute filter on the app to book a last minute deal On a snap slope side private rental home book [e-mail] VRBO's last minute deals make chasing fresh mountain powder incredibly easy. With thousands of homes close to the slopes, you can get epic pow freshies, first tracks and more. Find last minute deals with the last minute filter on the app. Book a private vacation rental [e-mail].

[C]

The next thing that came up a lot in the post episode chat were these questions about gaps in the wizarding world as it pertained to labor and economics. April wrote, you know what gets me? Hogwarts does no exposure to other magical careers. Like how do you become an expert in wand lore? Wouldn't Ollivander like to retire or pass his business on? Do the children know how to count money? Fred and George got a shop, but Madame Malkin? How did she get a shop? Back to the money if the goblins run the bank, no one has accounting skills like if the magical world is to function. How do we get to non Ministry of Magic careers? Nadia wrote. Umbridge and Yaxley were laughing at Mrs. Cattermole for her answers on the form she filled in. And having answered that her parents were greengrocers. But the rules around transfiguration in food would suggest that unless you grow all your own vegetables, they would need to buy them. But how? I can see rich families having house elves who grow things, but do they only eat eat seasonal vegetables? I very much doubt it. Fenty wrote. Where do they buy food? Are there visiting grocery stores? Would you get a trolley to go round it and have it add up what you're spending as you put the items in checkout staff, et cetera, et cetera? They can't leave this stuff entirely up to house elves as not every house has one. Maybe we should create our own canon on this. Well, I think what you all bring to bear is a really important question about what is the magical world when no one's doing magic like Hogwarts produces spellcasters, but not necessarily citizens who sustain an actual economy? Who is growing the food? Where is the infrastructure? And listen, I will say this, and I'll say it up front. The easy answer to this question is bad world building on the part of jkr, right? The easy answer to this question is she wrote a children's book and didn't think that people were going to be thinking about it this much and didn't invest in that. And there are many a video on the Internet that kind of get into this. To me, sure, absolutely. If that's the answer you want to give, totally fine. But for the sake of what we do here, let's engage with the world as we have it and think about how these mechanics operate. And I think it's actually really interesting because what we do know is that in Deathly Hallows, Hermione ends up going to. Is it a grocery store itself or does she go. She just like steals eggs from somebody's farm and leaves money in the cooperation? So clearly, I mean, like, there are lots of questions and we know, and many of you brought this up in the post episode chat, right? Like, there is a lot to be said about the fact that they can't just create food out of nowhere. Like, it has to exist somewhere. You can summon it, you can do all of these things, but you can't just create it. But here's the thing, y'. All. When you've created a society where for the vast majority of their formative years, they are not in the position to actually learn how to do anything, and you have people who are like, just having slaves, enslaved creatures do a lot of the legwork. My guess is that people are eating out all the time. People are ordering in, like actually going and picking up food from someplace. I mean, maybe that is what is going on. It's possible we don't hear about the Weasleys having a garden at the Borough, but undoubtedly there is someone who has a farm that is magical, that is growing all of this stuff and taking it to Diagon Alley or some sort of marketplace and selling it. But here's the thing, y'. All, even if you can get the fruit, you can get the vegetables, you can get the meat, they don't know how to cook. And like, what is clear to me, and if we take Molly Weasley and the Burrow as an indication of things, we never see her even beginning to teach anyone how to cook. And maybe the Reality is, is like if I'm Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charl, I'm coming over most nights, like, and I'm taking leftovers with me. Like if you're cooking and we're all still living in the area and we can apparate, I'm coming to your house. But I do think it is interesting, right? And I wonder how that works. I mean it's probably some sort of like, like marketplace type vibe because yeah, I mean they don't teach them real world skills. And it's also interesting too because there is this such a high level of dependence not only on house elves but on goblins for counting the money and making sure that the money is taken care of. And there is this dependency on them while simultaneously there's a massive prejudice against them. And it's like you're totally fine as long as you're doing the things we want you to do. And by things we want you to do, making us not worry about our money, making sure that you all go and can get and you're making pretty things that we can wear. And so like in embedded in a lot of this behavior as well is this kind of inherent magical prejudice that doesn't require you to actually have a house elf or to have a lot of money in green gods to have the expectation that this is the way that the system works. And these are the groups and the populations that are going to take care of your stuff, they're going to take care of your homes. And it, it strikes me as very, very, very interesting that this world seemingly just like operates. And I think part of it is because we spend so much time at Hogwarts, we don't worry about it. But questions remain as to like, where is Hogwarts getting this food from? Is Professor Sprout growing all these vegetables? Like they're getting lamb chops and steaks and all these things. They got bouillabaisse. When boubatin shows up, where is it coming from? You can't create it. So it exists somewhere that we know it exists somewhere. And again, like we can chalk this up to bad world building, but I also just think that it's one of these things where because the magical world operates the way that it does, it's probably just stealing it. Like, it would not surprise me if there were grocery stores in the UK that were just like had food disappearing. Like zooming out, that would be peak wizarding world to just say they don't need it, we do. Because once you've got it, you can do all Kinds of things, right? Like you can duplicate it, you can do this, you can do that. And also. And what is also interesting, right, is that the law of magic, like Gamp's law, I wonder, does that only apply to wizards with wands? Like, is it possible that house elves can do all kinds of things that we just don't know about and so that they can create food, that they can do these things? Or is that like a rule of magic, Right? Cause it's very possible that, like, house elves are not bound to the same conventions as magical people are. And so that there's the idea that, like, they're just relying on a magic that they think is rudimentary to do things that they simply cannot do, but because it comes off as like, subservient. Because I think the other aspect of this that is important for us to think about as we think about these gaps and the labor is that so much of this magic is looked down upon. Like when we see Tonks coming to pick up Harry in Order of the Phoenix, she is like, I can't. My mom knows how to fold these clothes, but I don't know how to do it. There's a way in which, like this kind of domestic brand of magic, which is in theory, like very important for anyone to be able to do, is seen as less than by the people who can't do it. I don't know y'. All. It. All of it just reeks of. This is what happens when you have a system and a structure and an educational space that is not invested in actually making you well rounded humans, but rather just people who can do jobs that we can pay you for that you don't so that you don't leave. Like, it all feels like a really big conspiracy to me, the way that all of this operates. Get your tinfoil hats out, y'. All. We're in it.

[D]

With stays under $250 a night. Virvo makes it easy to celebrate. Sweater weather. Book a cabin with leaf views or a home with a fire pit for nights with friends. With stays under $250 a night. Find a home for your exact needs. Book [e-mail] Save over $200 when you book weekly stays with Vrbo this winter. If you haven't seen your college besties since, well, college, you need a week to catch up in a snowy cabin. Take a week long vacation and save over $200. Book [e-mail] Time is precious, and so are our pets.

[B]

So time with our pets is extra. Precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24. 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[C]

One of the things that came up in the post episode chat is something that I'm really really excited to talk about because it's something that I feel like we like. Not us as a community, but just like people in the fandom don't spend enough time talking about because it's so present in these books, but it really is a conversation surrounding Ableism, broadly construed but particularly Thinking about Squibs Annie wrote One of the things that strikes me about Hogwarts and its many problems is how deeply entrenched ableism seems to be. I read once that squibs can be viewed as an admittedly problematic and execution metaphor for disability, and that unlocks questions for me as is squibs are left to assimilate into the Muggle world, rejected by the magical one for not being magical enough, and they are forced to assimilate with little to no support from any government structures. And there is no reason in my mind that squibs shouldn't be able to attend Hogwarts. Mrs. Figg demonstrates that squibs can see Hogwarts the way Muggles can't. Classes would need to be modified to be accessible to them, but there are plenty of classes that do not require magic to be done in the room. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of History of Magic, Herbology, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Rooms, Arithmancy, even arguably Potions. And for the rest, the course requirements could be modified to allow squibs to learn magic theory rather than learning the magic practically. There are plenty of careers that could likely be done without magic mogul liaisons for one, but also Hogwarts would benefit from a social worker, as would St. Mungo's. There's just no reason to me for Hogwarts to be exclusionary, Carmen wrote in response to this I love this perspective. The ableism at Hogwarts is so glaring when you think about it. Squibs being completely sidelined and students like Neville struggling without support really highlight how exclusionary the system is. I totally agree that many classes could be adapted in careers like Muggle relations Magical law admins, policy research or analysts, social workers, counselors, therapists, accountants, lawyers and paralegals, non spell based magical researchers and magical creature conservationists could be accessible to squibs. And yes, Hogwarts could definitely use tutoring programs for sure. I also think of this approach that I also think this approach could help staff Dumbledore and the heads of houses really rethink how they prepare students for life after Hogwarts. Career planning, life skills and learning to manage adult responsibilities could all be a part of the curriculum, not just magical ability. And Brit wrote I think though this is where wizard supremacy gets in the way. Hogwarts is absolutely an institution whose purpose in part is to assimilate all students to the wizarding world and promote wizard supremacy. I would argue that the Muggle Studies class likely class likely has to do less with Muggles and more to do with promoting propaganda that wizards and magical people are superior to those without it. I can't see them allowing ideas from the Muggle world to seep into the hallowed halls of Hogwarts or particularly with the Hogwarts to Ministry pipeline because it would upend the idea that magical people are better in every way than Muggles. Even when the ideas that have come about in the muggle world would 1000% benefit the wizarding world if applied there, y'. All. We never get to talk about squibs. We never get to talk about squibs. So thank all of you who are part of that broader conversation because now we get to talk about squibs. The prevailing understanding of squibs is that these are individuals who are magically born but not magically abled and that they are excommunicated for all intents and purposes from the magical world and basically made to go and live as non magical people. However, simultaneously, concurrently and we meet two we also spent a considerable amount of time with one who works in a building that is not supposed to be seen or visible to non magical people. In fact, that's the whole point of Hogwarts is that when non magical people even get close they remember an appointment and have to run off somewhere. Yet Argus Filch works at the school and he is at least trying to learn magic. Now I have gotten into many a debate on the Internet about whether or not being a squib is like you are free, fully unable to do magic or whether or not your ability just doesn't manifest as potently as it would for other people and thus you are excommunicated. Most people are of the mind and I will grant that we don't get a lot of understanding about it canonically. Most people are of the mind, that it just means you can't do anything like you are just not magically abled and that it's in some ways the inverse of Muggle borns. Even if that's the case, the reality is is that these individuals are magical enough to be able to enter into spaces where non magical people cannot. When we take this into account, it begs a much larger question about how we understand why they are being denied access to this space. And what's more is it's not even that they're not being denied access to the magical world, they're being not denied access to their families. They are literally being removed. And what else is interesting to me about and this is relevant in addition to being interesting, is that in a society where you have this blood hierarchy of pure blood, half blood Muggle born, somehow Squib removes all of that from you, right? Like in theory you are a pure blood person regardless of your ability to do magic. But the social construct of this blood quantum that exists within the magical world removes any bit of your access to what it means to be a pure Blood. All of the privileges and all of the madness that come along with that moniker are removed the moment that you are unable to perform magic, as is expected. So that when we think about Hogwarts as an institution and the fact that this means that there are a bevy of people who are born into magical spaces and my headcanon and also though I think it's pretty well founded, at least in terms of like why I believe this is that squibs are probably mostly purebloods, which means that for the vast majority of their lives they've only ever been around magic and then they are excommunicated and sent to go and live in the non magical world. And if we've learned anything from Hogwarts, from any of the purebloods that we've been around, it stands to reason that like these individuals know nothing about the non magical world and yet they are made to live in it. And to have to find out how all of it works, there's been lots of questions about, you know, when do these people learn math, when do they learn reading and writing? And now you've dropped them into a completely different system. And so when we think about what that means, what it means to me is that the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts and the magical world broadly construed only wants particular kinds of citizens. They only want particular kinds of people and they don't care about how you were born, your family. Magic is the thing and if you can't do it you can't sit with us. And it's not even just ableist, it is outlandishly discriminatory on so many dimensions. And it is cruel that you would send children because ostensibly once they get to Hogwarts age and you would normally send them to Hogwarts you've got to send them someplace else. And we know that even our most progressive people are out here doing this because Ron, I bring him up all the time because we can never forget the second cousin who's an accountant who nobody talks about because to be born into a magical family and not be able to do magic is shameful. And our progressive kings and queens and non binary royalty people up here in the magical world are perpetuating this belief. And so yes, I love the idea that there are spaces and places at Hogwarts where we could absolutely and should see people who are not magically abled or not as magically abled as others because I'm still not of the mind that they can't do anything. And I think what else is interesting to me is that Filch's position at Hogwarts tells us everything we need to know about how the magical world thinks about squibs. Because you have this man who yes, we don't like but that's inconsequential to the fact that his lot at that school is absurd. Why do you need this man to be out here cleaning up like this? It's a magical school, like get somebody else to do it. But the willingness and this, and this goes back to the other conversation we were having in the first theme. Because the willingness to have individuals, whether they be human or creature do things for you that you simply just don't want to do because you think it's beneath you is something that we see time and time again in the wizarding world. And so it's not even just ableist, it is outlandishly grounded as Britt noted in wizard supremacy. It's in the supremacy of those who are magically abled. And what's fascinating about that is that that particular hierarchical structure upends so much of the way that we even understand the pure blood, half blood Muggle born structure. Right. And so what does this mean for Hogwarts? It means that once again we see Hogwarts behaving in ways that promote discrimination. We don't even, they don't even learn about squibs it is not until Harry learns about the quick spell course that Filch is taking. And it becomes very clear when he confesses that he is a Squib. And Ron immediately starts laughing because once again as per usual in these books when people are differently abled they are laughed about, they are, they become jokes and all of a sudden we're laughing about the plight of these individuals without actually thinking about what it means to be in the position that they are in. And again I think Annie brings up a lot of really great points about how these people could be integrated and that there are so many aspects of the magical world that don't require you to be proficient in magic. But again it messes with the brand. And I think that that's really important because I think that there is a way in which so much of the magical world's understanding of self is through the brand of we do magic and non magical people do not. And so if they don't do magic then you don't get to belong here. And I think that that is really important because if you are allowing non magically abled people into magical space then are you better than them? And that's what this is all about. So much of what Hogwarts is doing is promoting this idea and that's why we see the inverse in terms of their instruction operating. That's why we see them behaving the way that they do as it pertains to the assimilationist practices towards Muggle Borns. Because they need you to believe that you are better than that Squib. They need you to believe that you are better than all than the non magical people that are out there. Because if you do then you won't want to go back. So yes, it is possible that there are so many subjects at Hogwarts that could be engaged with by individuals who cannot do magic. But you could also imagine people saying well why stop at squibs? Do we even need people who are magically born? Why not just let non magical people come to Hogwarts? And then all of a sudden it turns into this whole thing. And that's not an excuse that I'm making, I'm just saying that we could see the propaganda because what that does is it undermines the supremacist ideology that undergirds so much of what is happening at Hogwarts. And I know that people don't like that because people, you know, that's our safe haven, that's our place. But I hate to tell you that Hogwarts is promoting and upholding supremacist ideologies as it pertains to magically abled people and squibs are the evidence of that reality that when you are someone who has a birthright to show up in this space because you were born into a magical family and you are denied that because you cannot do magic, this has nothing to do with magical ability and everything to do with power and Hogwarts is upholding that.

[D]

Save over $200 when you book weekly stays with VRBO this winter. If you haven't seen your college besties since, well, college, you need a week to catch up in a snowy cabin, take a week long vacation and save over $200. Book [e-mail] Time is precious and so are our pets.

[B]

So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 247 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[C]

And now our final theme, which was about the house system and socialization. Olivia wrote, I think the house discussion that made up a lot of the episode merits more cultural context that I as an American cannot provide. I agree with a lot of the points made about competition, pitting kids against each other, putting them in boxes, but to properly have this conversation I think we need to understand the cultural context in which the series was written and England, where school housing systems are already common. Nadia wrote, I went to school in England. I graduated high school in 1997 and I have never heard of houses. With respect to schools in Australia, my kids have school houses, but it literally is only a thing for sports and the color shirt they wear on Fridays. There is zero competition except maybe in the swimming carnival, the other sports carnivals. They don't seem to care which house wins the most races and all cheer each other on more based on who they are friends with or in the same class with, or who they are in football teams with outside of school. Fenty wrote, I don't know if my view is colored by my not being invested in it, but at all the schools I went to I think we had houses. I do not recall there being the kind of intense competition between houses that Hogwarts has, but I can only speak about my state paid for by the Government schools system. That this might be the case at other schools is entirely possible. I visited a few boarding schools. Not Eaton or Harrow. That means something, I think. I know Eaton. I know that's a big one. A feeder school for the Oxbridge people. Did you see how I said Oxbridge? I know things about the uk, okay? And none of them were anywhere near as glamorous as Hogwarts. Not even close. And Dana. I think it's Dana. There are two N's. It's either Dana or Dana. I hope you forgive me. I hope it's one of those two wrote. I think one of the many reasons why Hogwarts students have such an isolated mindset is that for most of their youth they are at Hogwarts all of the time. Between the ages of 11 and 17, students are at Hogwarts and are unable to explore new places. The only place they are able to explore is Hogsmeade. But that's until their third years in my version of Hogwarts. I would want a lot of field trips so students wouldn't be stuck at Hogwarts 24 7. I think that there's something really fascinating about this particular line of questioning. And I think that it is correct that obviously those of us who live in the United States and are not part of systems that require or school systems that have houses are kind of at a loss a little bit for the structure. And I do think that, and I have heard many times about people who have been educated in the United States who have gone to boarding schools who have had similar understandings of groupings. And we've talked a bit about this in the Chronic Overthinkers as well in some of our monthly meetups. I think from what I understand, the difference between those housing structures and the one at Hogwarts is twofold. One, there's no intrinsic understanding of oneself because you were in that house. In the same way that we get bravery, ambition, loyalty or curiosity for the other houses. Right? Who you are as a person is not the reason why you ended up in that house. Now, you may cultivate a collective understanding of these things. Things later on. And now again, this is not true for all of these houses. I'm only taking the conversations that I have had as examples. But I do think that many people have pointed out, you know, that they were not sorted into these houses because of traits that they had. A lot of it tends to be random selection. And yes, you do create friends in those houses. And if you're at a boarding school, these are the places that you live. And even some universities in the United States have something similar. Like I know that Yale University has something like that and that there is, and that there is a kind of grouped based understanding. A friend of mine went to Yale and he talks a lot about his time at Yale but also like he was in, I think it's called the Ezra Stiles house. And that was where he spent the vast majority of his time for his four years while he was there. And it is very meaningful to him. But he, he also had friends that were not in that house. And this is the second point that people who were kind of educated in the housing system similar to this were not so siloed that they could not then go and create relationship and be in relationship with other people outside of that space. And I think that what we see for Hogwarts is that there is this sense of like you are locked in to that space. If you were a Gryffindor, your friends are Gryffindors, you know, and we, we obviously do get some kind of like inter house connections, right? Like we get Percy and Penelope Clearwater, we get Ron going to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil who's in Ravenclaw. It happens. But the novelty of like friendship, meaningful friendship is really something that we only truly see with Luna. And we talked about that in Luna's episode. We don't really get a lot of like movement and inter house connections. It wasn't in Luna's episode, it was in the Ravenclaw episode. And I think that that is the big thing here is that what Hogwarts is cultivating is not just like, oh, we are organizing the children so that we can kind of take care of them easier because they're in smaller groups. It is, this is who you are, this is what it means to be in this house and you need to live up to that. And I think that there's something very different about that idea, particularly when we're talking about 11 year olds and above, right? Like there's something about this idea. And so yes, I do agree that, you know, we need to be careful about, you know, some of the criticisms leveraged against the housing system because that is something that is more prevalent in the, in the UK than in, you know, other parts of the world. However, simultaneously, concurrently and from what I'm hearing, the tales that I'm being told is that there is a level of kind of aggressiveness that is, that exists within the Hogwarts housing system that is not true for other places and spaces within the kind of housing, the broader housing system that exists out in the world. And I think that those are important because when we think about, you know, how important it is that, you know, to Harry that he's in Gryffindor and what he's willing to do to prove that he is a worthy Gryffindor and what he gets rewarded for when he does that. We talked about all of this in the housing episodes. If you have not listened to those, go back and listen. It's all there for you. But the housing system here feels much more constrained. It feels much more kind of tight in how much it. How much latitude it offers students to be able to experience Hogwarts outside of their houses. And I think that there's something to be said about that in terms of how they're socialized, right? How they understand themselves. And I think that the idea of isolation is really important here because even, you know, to Danna's point, there's something about, you know, being isolated at Hogwarts but there's something even more terrifying about being isolated within Hogwarts. And Harry experiences that a number of times. I mean, we see it in Goblet of Fire when the rest of the school is upset with him because his name came out of the Goblet of Fire. But we see it more pronounced in Order of the Phoenix when everyone thinks he's a psycho and he's just. No one's talking to him. And even people within Gryffindor, right, Like he's in a fight with Seamus and then Dean by proxy. And so that this isolation exists and he really has nowhere else to go, right? Because all his friends are in Gryffindor. And so there's something to be said about how this house system manufactures identities and also manufactures ideologies and manufactures how these individuals and these kids perform these ideologies and these belief structures and how they then treat other people in the castle based on those beliefs. And obviously, like there is a. There's a very kind of like Lord of the Fliesian way that this operates within this school. And I do think that that's not often the case or that's not always the case for housing systems broadly construed. Because I think that there is a culture at Hogwarts where like. And even, like even McGonagall says at the beginning of when they get to the school, like, your houses are your family. And I think that that while beautiful in theory creates a very kind of cloistered belief structure amongst the students about who they get to be in contact with and what. And on what grounds they get to be in contact with him. It also fosters a very clear, like, hierarchy in terms of self perception. Everybody wants to be in Gryffindor, right? I think Draco's like, if I get into Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave. And I think that that's what I think. Hagrid, like, affirms that. And then. And so that there's a way in which the hierarchy exists as well in terms of the houses. And it's not like, oh, I just want to be in Hufflepuff because I throw the best parties. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to be in Hufflepuff because they're lame. And I want to be brave. And I don't want to be in Slytherin because everybody who's in Slytherin is bad. And I don't want to be in Ravenclaw because they're all nerds. You know, like, there is a way in which we are defining people and curating our understandings of their humanity and their worthiness based on the houses that they're in. And I think that that is something fundamentally different than what actually exists in that housing system, like, broadly construed in the real world. And I think that that's where the danger lies. And I think that the real danger. And it becomes clear to me when even in the housing episodes, we see kind of where the distinctions are drawn, the relationships between people from these houses and. And also how much our houses mean to us and what it is that we think. And, like, I got a lot of flack when I, you know, was critical of Hufflepuffs. People were in my DMs, upset with me. And it's like, y', all, I know that being a Hufflepuff is meaningful. Being a Slytherin is meaningful to me also, though, like, we have to be open. Like, it's me critiquing the house is not a personal attack on you. And I think that there is a way that, like, that mentality is very specific, I think, to Hogwarts. Maybe I'm wrong, and if I am, I would love to be corrected and I would love to hear more from people who have grown up and been educated in these. In this kind of housing system. But from what I understand and the conversations that I have had with people who have been in that system, Hogwarts is a bit more than what is actually happening in the real world.

[B]

Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24. 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets are can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[C]

I don't know when Reflections became part of the Prof. Response episodes, but we seem to be really vibing with it so we're just gonna go and we've reached that point in the episode where I'm going to reflect on our conversations in the post episode chat. As I was reading through your comments for this episode, how I just kept thinking the same question that I asked in the main episode about Hogwarts, WTF is going on here? Because when you really look at it, what's so clear to me is not just what Hogwarts is teaching and using propaganda to do, but also the reality that like it's really not teaching a lot of things. And one of the things that really stands out to me is as someone who does teach, is that it's not teaching the students how to live with one another. I think that part of what's going on here is that Hogwarts assumes that because everyone can do magic, that everyone is the same, that magic itself is this kind of great equalizer and that once you cross through those castle gates, difference supposedly dissolves. And on the surface that sounds really great, the idea that you enter into a place where what matters most is this kind of meritocratic understanding of your ability and your talent. And I think that for many of us that works, right? That we could kind of come to Hogwarts and let our freak flags fly and that that's why we love that place. But the reality is that sameness is not equality. And I think that the idea of this notion of being a great equalizer is something that is also a fallacy that's driving many of our real world institutions. Right now in the United States, we're experiencing this kind of massive rollback in initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion. And we're being told in many ways we don't need this anymore. Equality is here. One of our very prominent politicians said we had a black president. We're good. I am abbreviating what he said, but that was the gist of it. And again, I say sameness is not equity. Hogwarts, like our schools and universities, mistakes a shared access for a shared experience. It seems to say you're all magical and that's all that matters. But it never asks how that magic lives differently in each person. Like let's just think about a couple of students for a second. Hermione, a Muggle born learning an entirely different culture overnight for the sake of being prepared so that she's not ostracized. Ron, Pureblood, poor, outlandishly sheltered. And he doesn't really know anything about the non magical world despite being in very close quarters to them while living at the borough. And then you've got Draco Drake. Who? Draco, you know him, wealthy, pedigreed, socially inept. He has no social skills because he was raised to believe that his status can replace empathy. And then you've got Luna Lovegood who refuses to fit the mold. She might be the only person who actually embodies what curiosity looks like. She asks questions, she lives outside of convention. And the thing is is that she is mocked for that. We as readers love her because she stands apart. And that in many ways is, is kind of what we wanted to be at Hogwarts, right? It's what many of us were in our own lives when we were reading these books. Many of us might have felt like a Luna Lovegood in a lot of ways and that's why we wanted to go to Hogwarts. But even at Hogwarts she is bullied. She's almost treated like a warning, like this is what happens when you don't assimilate. And that's what Hogwarts rewards. Assimilation, conformity. Not curiosity. At no point are students encouraged to ask any questions of their classmates. I mean, you see this desire for uniformity in everything from the uniforms that make everyone look the same to the expectation that Muggle Borns will leave everything that they've known at the door. Even in seven years of friendship, Ron never learns a single thing about Muggle life. I'm always struck in the moment in Deathly Hallows when he's talking about Tales of Beaude Labard and he's so surprised that Harry and Hermione don't know anything about it. And Harry's and Hermione's like dude, you know that we weren't born here. She's like we learned about Cinderella and Snow White. And he's like what? And it's so interesting because two his two best friends, one is Muggle born and one is Muggle raised and at no point has he thought to ask much of anything of substance. And that's just not Ron being clueless. I think that's an institutional design. Hogwarts trains curiosity out of its students. It's not safe to ask questions that might reveal an inequality. Magical people aren't encouraged to learn from Muggles, only to observe them. Even Arthur Weasley's fascination with Muggle objects is more anthropological than it is empathetic. Meanwhile, the Muggle borns don't get to be incurious. Muggle raised. People have to learn these things in order to survive. They have to master the culture of the people who already look down on them. And that's what magical superiority does. It builds an unequal world and then convinces everyone it's fair because everyone can wave a wand. I think about it a lot when I'm in my own classroom because especially when I'm teaching classes on race, which is what I tend to teach outside of my Harry Potter class, my students often walk in believing that sitting in the same college classroom means that they share the same experience, that education at GW has leveled the playing field for them. And really it's. That's the story, right? It's like all you have to do is get a degree and you'll be just as good as everyone else. And so my students really do operate from this kind of fallacy a lot of the time. And then we start talking and I remember distinctly we were having a conversation about policing. And I was telling them that when I was growing up, like we'd never had police at our school. And I went to a very like, bougie hoity toity private school that was outlandishly privileged and safe. And so we never had police at all. And it wasn't really that much of a thing for a lot of people my age. Even those who didn't go to high schools, like myself, like mine rather. But I was talking to the students about it and all of a sudden it became so clear to everyone in the room just how varied the experiences were. Some people talked about the kinds of police that they had, how safe they felt, how unsafe they felt. You know what it looked like? Police on the roof, people walking through schools, metal detectors. All kinds of different experiences from people who might have shared the same racial or ethnic background, but different socioeconomic background, who grew up in different areas. Some were rural, some were urban. And all of a sudden you see, ah, we're in this classroom together and yet there's so much that is different about us. And for me, that's when the learning actually starts, when people bring their own narratives into the room. And that's when we realize that sameness shouldn't be the goal. Understanding, comprehension, empathy should be. And when I think about Hogwarts, I realize, like, that's what it never teaches. There's no space in the castle for students to share who they are or where they come from. There are no conversations about difference, no opportunities to practice anything other than magical spells. And here's the thing, right? Like the one sanctioned kind of difference that exists is the one we just talked about, the Hogwarts housing system. That is difference, right? That is a recognized difference between Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin. It creates rivalry, but not understanding. They make competition the only acceptable form of diversity in the school and it ignores the intra house diversity within those houses. There's so much variation and yet they all come together and buy into what is being sold to them. Because they are children and there's no room for them to really offer us a sense of who they are, what their experiences have been. There's no room for nuance inside of Gryffindor or Slytherin. You're brave or you're ambitious and everything else about you, your upbringing, your beliefs, your struggles, it all gets flattened out because we can all do magic and we're in the same house. It gives students a sense of belonging while quietly sanding down some of that individuality. It's Hogwarts way of saying, see, we do value difference, but only if it's color coded and easy to score points for. And maybe that's the scary part, because Hogwarts feels like a place of freedom, but it really is a place of containment. It's a machine designed to reproduce the same social order again and again and again, while convincing its students that they're all equal because they're magical. All the while, Draco Malfoy is running around here calling people mudbloods left and right. It's why a world full of witches and wizards and magical people can still be obsessed with blood purity. It's why the Ministry of Magic looks and acts just like the school that produced it. Because Hogwarts isn't necessarily broken. I think it's functioning exactly as it's intended. It doesn't nurture curiosity because curiosity challenges hierarchy. It doesn't promote inclusion because inclusion threatens tradition. And it doesn't celebrate diversity. It manages it because magic, like education, becomes the distraction, the shimmer that keeps everyone looking up in awe instead of looking around and asking who's missing. It's the very thing that makes people feel justified in denying magical access to goblins and house elves by way of wands. So maybe the question isn't WTF is Hogwarts doing? But actually who is Hogwarts doing it for? Who is Hogwarts for? Because if the school can only function by flattening any difference and rewarding silence, but also calling it unity, then it isn't an institution of magic, it's an institution of maintenance. And maybe that's the thing we need to hold up for our own world too. Because the moment that we start believing that equality has already been achieved because of things that look good, we stop. We stop being worried. We stop protesting, we stop asking questions. Because we did it. We did it. And the thing that gets me every single time is that people in the magical world thought they did it. They thought when Voldemort fell, it was done. Pure blood supremacy gone. Don't worry about it. Finished. And that's the thing. Because when that kind of belief structure occurs, sameness isn't progress. It's just a new form of control. Foreign this has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble and if you like today's episode, first of all, thank you. Please feel free to like, rate, subscribe and do all the things that one does where pods are cast. Thank you all so much. For those of you who participated in the post episode chat, I can't tell you how grateful I am that we got to have conversation. Conversations that we've not yet been able to have. If you'd like to join us on a post episode chat and you're not yet on Patreon, please feel free to join us at patreon.com criticalmagictheory y'. All. You can join for free and be a part of the conversation. You can also join for a paid subscription. If you are a deep diver or a chronic overthinker and you have not joined our discord. But that's your jam. The instructions are there. And if you have not done your Dumbledore survey, the time is drawing near. Stop the dillying, stop the dallying and get to writing. I can't wait to see what you say. Until then, be critical and stay magical, my friends. Bye.