Order Only: Private message to Sally-Anne and Justin

[alt_harry]

Headmaster Dolohov set me an essay to write. About this book of philosophy that's supposed to explain why MOST half-bloods shouldn't be 'championed' because they'll we'll just 'water down' our society's wizarding strength.

Only it's utter bollocks. It's particularly bollocks if you look at the people in our year! Midgen is thick, but not any thicker than Goyle. Patil's clever but she isn't any cleverer than you are, Sally-Anne.

I have the exam rankings from when we all sat the OWL exam only I'm not sure how to say what I'm trying to say and I need one of you to help me. You're a lot better at writing things out than I am.

Comments

[alt_justin]

Harry,

Happy to help, old man. What's your goal, if one might ask? Do you intend to provide the Headmaster with just what he's requested or do you hope to continue your subversion?

Usually if there's an assignment to be turned on its ear, if you follow me, then the first step is to understand exactly what one's instructions and parameters are. What, precisely, did the Headmaster tell you to write? Did he prescribe a conclusion or instruct you to pursue a specific angle?

And look sharp, old chap. Professor Gimlet has that twitch, what, like he's going to give us a quiz any second.

-Justin

[alt_harry]

I want to tell him he's wrong.

Because he is wrong.

He said I had to read this stupid book and write four feet about the arguments it's making. He didn't actually say I had to say the arguments were right.

[alt_sally_anne]

If you don't tell him what he wants to hear he'll probably just make you write it again.

How many times do you want to have to write four feet about the inferiority of half-bloods?

[alt_justin]

Sally-Anne,

I think we can help Harry write four feet that sounds like what Professor Dolohov wants to hear but isn't actually what he wants it to say, if you follow me.

-Justin

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh sure but can we do that AND make it sound like Harry wrote it himself? That's going to be the hard part.

[alt_justin]

I see, jolly good. Well, in that case, I should give the book a close read, taking notes on the evidence offered for each argument you want to refute, what.

You mentioned the O.W.L. results. What do you mean to do with them?

-Justin

[alt_harry]

Well here's the thing, the OWL results show that half-blood students and pureblood students perform about the same.

I counted the students in the top third and about half were half-bloods. (I counted you as a half-blood. I don't know how Dolohov would classify a wizard born from two squibs. But legally you were a half-blood when you sat OWLs.) And then I counted the next third and about half were half-bloods again. And the bottom third, exactly half and half.

Maybe it's not even worth arguing about.

[alt_justin]

No, Professor Dolohov will respond better if you maintain your principles, particularly after such mild pressure, what. He quite prefers students who at least attempt to defend their positions.

Unfortunately, he'll poke a hole in your statistics fairly quickly, I think, as half of the class are halfbloods (counting me, what) and he'll simply point out that half of the class did well, while half of them did poorly.

I do think it's worth using the standings as evidence, mind. It will be important to stress that both groups are distributed normally. Perhaps we can think of other examples, as well.

What about performance in a particular subject, or at Quidditch?

-Justin

[alt_harry]

Well there are half-bloods that excel at everything.

He didn't try to deny that. He said that the exceptional half-bloods should be treated like exceptional people, or something like that. And that's why I get treated differently, and Sally-Anne gets treated differently.

Anyway looking at subjects is a good idea.

[alt_sally_anne]

I get treated differently in some of my classes but not all of them.

And I excel in all of them. (Well, except for History. But I'm not taking that anymore.)

[alt_justin]

At what point do 'exceptional' halfbloods become common enough to be considered normal?

Perhaps that's the point we ought to be working to make.

-J