I’ve already commented on the wizarding economy and put forth my review of the last Harry Potter book. I recently enunciated, in my own head, something about the whole wizarding world of Harry Potter that was bothering me. And now, I share it with you.
Did you ever notice how none of the masters of wizardry, including the faculty at Hogwarts, is ever shown practicing, improving their own skills, or taking master lessons?
This is certainly just laziness on J.K. Rowling’s part, but it is very unfortunate, because of the unquestionable pedagogical influence of her work on young people. They should be given to understand that no one who is great at what they do — think Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods; Yo-Yo Ma or Wynton Marsalis — remains that way merely by virtue of acquisition of a certain set of skills at the peak of his learning experience. Great performers, artists and practitioners of all crafts practice, refine their skills, seek new challenges, and recognize their skills and abilities are either improving or deteriorating.
In the wizarding world, on the other hand, the great grown up wizards — think of Dumbledore and Snape — are evidently static in their status as wizards even though, ultimately, they are not static as characters (at least not entirely, and at least not by the end). We never see the masters doing extra reading, or adding to their repertoires, or out on the wanding range. No one learns but the students at Hogwarts.
That’s a real life lesson about excellence that the Harry Potter books could have taught with a few select sentences, and an opportunity lost by their by and large very highly accomplished author. Too bad.
Right Wing News did a survey among right-of-center bloggers (including this one) searching for their most-admired public people on our side of things. Here are the results. The top ten, in reverse order:
