You could argue that fake Moody changing Malfoy into a ferret is an example of Transmogrification over Transfiguration.

 

What about business, economics, or pre-law classes? If someone wants to start a business right out of school (WWW for example) what classes prepare them for this type of venture? Determining markets, pricing, balancing books, etc. etc. Even something like Magical Home Economics would be useful...

 

Just to be clear: Magical education is about teaching young witches and wizards how to control and use their magic. It exists because if they weren't trained how to use it they would run roughshod over their immediate area and most likely break the Statute of Secrecy.

Every other restriction of living like a muggle would be answered with some version of 'there's a Charm for that'.

 

Well, human transfiguration is a NEWT level subject and transmogrification is essentially that, so it wouldn't surprise me to see it as an archaic term for a branch of transfiguration.

 

...so if they're already learning canon magic in canon classes, what is the point of this thread? It's a magic school so they don't teach any other skills - that was canon. I thought the point of this thread was ideas of things that you kind of wonder, "how do they learn this, since we don't know how they would learn this as it isn't covered in canon?"

The OP themselves mentions politics. I see no difference.

 

I think that Latin would be a given. And maybe magic theory or magic history? A class about how magic came to be and so on.

 

There very much is Alchemy in <i>Alexandra Quick</i>. It substitutes for Potions in some cases.

~

Also, this whole thread is why I love fanfiction so much. It just tears apart the series's flaws.

 

Latin and Greek, definitely. If Hogwarts is modelled on ye olde English public schools, these should have been mandatory subjects from first year onwards imho.

Also as to the question of reading about people learning about boring things, JK skips over the kids learning about interesting things (eg all of History of Magic) so she could just be like "while their illicit potion was brewing, Harry, Hermione and Ron conjugated latin verbs for Professor Grammatica on the floor of Myrtle's Bathroom"

 

Magical arts would seriously be interesting. I mean, what kind of art would wizards produce? What would be their medium? The psyche of a wizard or witch would be fascinating considering the world they grew up in and the reflection between muggle, muggleborn, halfblood, and pureblood art would be fascinating. There would obviously be some who specialize in portrait making and the magic that goes with it (already super cool) but what of the more abstract art and other stuff? Besides portraits, does other types of real-life mimicking paintings and sculptures move too? Imagine a moving Michelangelo work hehe

 

I'd love to see healing, enchanting (creating magical objects from scratch), warding, and ritual magic, even if the latter sounds a little too Wiccan, but we already know Lily did something ritual with Harry, and Voldemort's resurrection ritual was creepy, but very interesting, as they chanted instead of foolish wand-waving.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but... For healing see potions and charms. Enchanting falls under charms as well. Enchanting is not about creating something from nothing. It's about putting spells on an existing object. Warding and ritual magic I would think falls into Arithmancy as well charms and defense against the Dark arts. Wiccan is a religion which believes in magic. Mostly Voldemort's rebirth consisted of potions and blood.

 

Magical construction. Yeah, it's mostly charms/transfiguration, but that's why it's an elective. Show people how to use certain magic together to build and/or enchant a magical abode for home or work.

A subject any Weasley should get an O in.

 

No she didn't.

 

Well, Snape healed Malfoy after the Sectumsempra with "chants", something I think isn't covered in charms. Also, what about diagnosis? I agree most common ailments could be cured with potions and charms, but you could easily kill someone if you give them the wrong potion. Thus, healing (first aid) class.

About enchanting, while there isn't a canon description about it, it seems very unlikely (in my eyes) a wizard could just spell or even transfigure all the magical devices we see in the books. Is there a charm to create a time-turner? What about the glass case with the bird and the egg at the DoM, was it just transfigured and charmed, or there is something a little deeper? The RoR? Ravenclaw's diadem? Wands? Goblin blades? I think there is something a little more refined in creating magical objects than simply spelling them to do something. The Marauder's Map also seemed an enchanted piece instead of simply a spelled parchment, as even Crouch Jr. found it remarkable, and Snape couldn't fully understand it.

Arithmancy is a big unknown, we merely think it has something to do with practical magic, as the word refers to predicting the future via numbers. Fandom lore spanned the thing about "breaking the spell in it's arithmantic components" and all that. Quite like Runes, something that could easily be the "Ancient Greek" class of the magical world turning into some kind of "Siglistic", "writing" spells.

The graveyard ritual was more than blood and potions, as Wormtail chanted all the time, and probably not just for showing. Many things seem ritualistic in Harry's world, there are various mentions about chantings and strange wand movements, long incantations and whatever Dumbledore did to recognize Riddle's signature on the cave wall. Seem pretty ritualistic to me. The Wiccan commentary was just about the chanting thing, I do know what it is.

 

I think the current curriculum gives students enough space to be proactive on their own, to explore their own interests without a teacher's guidance - or hindrance. And for me, this is what sets Voldemort, Dumbledore, but also Snape and the Marauders apart from Harry, Ron and other average students: personal initiative, which Harry lacks for the most part.

More electives would reduce the importance of personal initiative and would not improve Hogwarts at all.

 

I don't know... I think organizing and leading a self-defense club and teaching them rather competently is a good example of initiative.

 

Our raven-haired hero did not show initiative when he worked diligently to master magic that others his age could not, nor when he taught others his age the difficult process not two years later. He did not show initiative when he solved countless puzzles with the help of his friends, who were no more knowledgeable or skilled than he was. He did not show initiative when he managed to ascertain the secrets of Voldemort's horcruxes, most notably Horace Slughorn's most guarded memory, which Dumbledore could not even procure from his Potions' professor's mind. He never showed initiative when he received an Outstanding mark in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which, curiously enough, seemed to be the only subject that he showed a fair amount of interest in. He never showed initiative when he did the right thing despite his superiors best wishes, or when he rushed headlong into firefights or fought monsters to save people he cared about.

You see, folks, sollol is making a common mistake countless other Fanfiction readers have in the past. He/she has read so many independent Harry rewrites that he/she is now convinced canon Harry had no initiative whatsoever when, in reality, if each of us had shown as much initiative in our youth, we would have: A. Married, happily, the girls we loved, B. Kept our best friends for the rest of our lives, C. Got our dream jobs and made it all the way to the top, D. Ended up with a myriad of family members that cared for and admired us, and E. Became generally well-respected and liked within our communities.

I'M JUST SAYIN

 

I think everybody in this thread has good ideas. But the students have to write so many useless essays. With new or more important electives they would have to stay at school a few more years or the next book would be 'Harry Potter and far to much homework'. Only important location: the library.