Top 10 Worst Things About Hogwarts
Hogwarts like any other school has its misgivings. And there's quite a few things to note about this school.Before I get attacked for this, think about it. The way the sorting of houses works means that all the intelligent students get sorted in one place, the humble ones in another, the brave ones in another, and the purebloods in another. Basically, it's a form of segregation that, for some reason, even after Harry himself has left school, is still in place. There is a lot of room for favoritism here, unlike public schools which tend to have more mingling among students of all backgrounds and knowledge levels.
Clearly a major issue in general! I already mentioned it in an earlier item, but there's bound to be favoritism, especially with faculty heads hoping that one of their houses has the best students or Quidditch players or whatnot. It also has to do with how house points get distributed/taken. Sometimes the heads take more points from students outside their own houses, for instance.
Way back in the Sorcerer's Stone, the trio and Malfoy got sent to the forest to serve detention. The majority of nasty creatures are in this Forbidden Forest. Can't you just have detention in the building or whatnot?
That's putting the students in danger! How are you going to explain to the parents (especially muggle-borns' parents)? Oh, your son/daughter was bitten by a werewolf and we couldn't save her!
Pretty idiotic, because all this does is freak out the students and puts their lives in jeopardy.
Remember Fluffy? Although it was inside a room, so that doesn't really count that much. But what about the Basilisk in Chamber of Secrets? It roamed using pipes to sneak around.
I guess we'll count the many ghosts too, although they are harmless.
This should be fairly obvious. Although punishments are given to rule-breakers, those who get hurt in the process don't get much other than a trip to Madam Pomfrey. This kind of issue really does apply to every school in general when you think about it. Any nonfictional school is better at enforcing safety compared to Hogwarts.
Exactly. Although usually Madam Pomfrey fixes everyone up, I don't think a student ever actually died at Hogwarts.
I already said it earlier, so I'll say it again. One of the weirdest things about house points is that if one student in a house breaks a rule, the house points are deducted from the whole house. Same with good deeds. So, in other words, one group of students who do crazy stuff to get expelled completely costs a generally good house any chance of winning the House Cup. Let's not forget that this whole system promotes too much competition and favoritism.
The "too bad you ruined it for everyone" trope, basically. From what we see of it, it's also got to be the most illogical point of the entire series (pun intended). We see Hermione getting five points for answering a question right on the first day, and yet by the end of the year, the houses only have a few hundred points.
Marvelous to look at, but a total pain when it comes to getting from place to place. Considering all other options are off the table, getting on and having the stairs move is a hassle. Plus, the possibility of being late to class and having to wait for the slow-moving staircase to come is another issue.
Whose stupid idea was it to have moving stairs within a school? It's a major annoyance to the students, like when you're trying to get to a class and all of a sudden the stairs just change without warning, causing you to be late to class and lose points for your house.
Well, Snape is quite obvious and shows favoritism towards Slytherin while bullying Harry and Ron. But that's just scratching the surface. What about the DADA position and the fact that no teacher has ever held this post for more than a year? How did Lockhart become a professor?
Honestly, I don't understand how someone as intelligent as Dumbledore literally appointed four of the worst possible candidates and didn't see that they were either incompetent or working for Voldemort. To be fair, choosing Umbridge was out of his hands, and Lupin was a good choice, but the others were awful!
You'd think that even in the dorm rooms there would be some privacy, right? Nope! Seriously, the walls are alive with portraits that move and talk, ghosts that read in the dorm rooms and go through the walls (for reference, see the Chamber of Secrets movie where Harry has the diary and a ghost is sitting at his table). Not to forget Moaning Myrtle, who haunts a whole bathroom, and the Marauder's Map, which shows everyone's position anywhere in the castle.
The only room with privacy would be the Room of Requirement. Not even the sleeping dorms have privacy.
In Chamber of Secrets, after Harry and Ron are prevented from getting on Platform 9 3/4 thanks to Dobby's interference, they end up taking Ron's dad's flying car, which ends up being a terrible idea. This nearly gets them expelled due to being seen by several Muggles while taking off.
Tough luck if you miss the train or can't figure out how to get to platform 9 3/4! Also, boats for the first years in a spooky backdrop.
The Newcomers
There's a fan theory I made a while back that suggests the Muggles actually won a war against the wizards. Their overall secrecy might be to prevent another war.
Are they unhealthy? It seems like something that is commonplace at Thanksgiving. Somehow, all the feasts in Harry Potter look like large Thanksgiving feasts that both students and staff are eating. And well, Hermione's just slapping Ron, saying, "Do you ever stop eating?"
At least Hogwarts doesn't poison its food, I think.
Well, there is the Chamber of Secrets. But that's not the only one. All those rooms to the Sorcerer's Stone (Fluffy's room, the devil's snare, the flying keys, the chessboard) could count as secret chambers. There are also lots of secret passageways where fugitives can go in and out, plus the dungeon corridor where the Slytherin common room is located (not to mention trolls in the dungeon). There's also the Room of Requirement. Many areas being off-limits to many people really makes you think.
Technically, this meant that the Ministry of Magic was in control, and Dolores was the patsy. In any case, though, it was an overreach because the Ministry wanted to keep Voldemort's presence a conspiracy theory that they constantly denied, as well as Diggory's death. So they installed Umbridge, and things went from there. Hogwarts worked better when it was more independent.
I rewatched the scene where the trio got detention in the first movie. Malfoy got detention too, despite trying to be a good boy by telling on rulebreakers. McGonagall recognized his good intentions, but he still had to do detention with the trio.
This one just occurred to me because I remembered that the school has a ban on Apparating (only Dumbledore can do it within the grounds). The school doesn't ban anything else, just punishes students for misuse of magic. But why doesn't the headmaster place some sort of magical lock on certain spells and curses that are known to cause trouble?
In Harry's fourth year, his DADA class actually learned and even saw the Unforgivable curses. Could you imagine if the Killing Curse was locked from being used inside school grounds? Snape wouldn't have killed Dumbledore then. Unless the curses are so unforgivable that they circumvent any possible locks, but then again, the fourth-year students wouldn't have the willpower to use these curses even when taught.
I'd imagine if there were specific locks on spells, they would only be used in certain circumstances. Harmful dueling spells would only be used during the Dueling Clubs and DADA classes, but never in the halls and other rooms where they have no place. It's just weird that the school has no sort of lock or ban on specific spells that can harm students. Besides Apparating, of course, that seems to be the only one.