Global Citizenship - Lesson 2

Clara had been furiously taking notes as the headmistress spoke. Today's class seemed to be a bit more controversial than the last one. She knew blood purity was a touchy subject--muggleborns like herself had faced discrimination in the wizarding world for generations. She'd read in a textbook of recent history that less than thirty years ago, the Ministry had organized a purge of sorts, stripping muggleborns of their wands, and treating them as if they were somehow imposters who had stolen such things from "real wizards."

The reasoning was illogical and didn't make sense to her, but she could certainly recognize patterns. It was hardly much different from discriminating based on race, and the muggle world was notorious for that. It may not be logical, but it certainly happened, so the question was why. The answer? Well, with any sort of discrimination, there are people who are used to having power, and other people who are seen as a threat to that power. Those in power will do anything they can to keep it, so they make up excuses like skin colour and blood purity to distinguish between those who are "worthy."

She raised her hand. "Centuries ago, those with magic would have had a significant advantage over those without. When muggles were not as technologically advanced as they are today, as Elenore said, wizards and witches could simply do more, and thus came to power.

"When the two worlds split, I think the old wizarding families probably became more important. As differences between the two societies grew, those from the muggle side were seen as outsiders by those from the wizarding side. Anything alien is taboo, because people don't understand it and that scares them.

"The same would be true if wizards were to enter the muggle world. They'd be seen as different, and thus inferior, especially if they were perceived to pose a threat to the established system. As Tess said, there is a similar hierarchy in both worlds. If anyone from either world was seen as a threat to those already in power in the other world, the ones in power would do everything they could to eliminate that threat, and so they'd play on the fear of the unknown to turn society in their favour.

"Personally, I think discriminating based on magical ability is more reasonable that discriminating based on family. Magic is a tangible difference in ability that varies from person to person, and presents a physical advantage to those who have it. Family, however, is powerful only because society has decided so. Families hand down their power and wealth to give future generations an advantage at birth, yet aside from that, there is no significant difference between individuals born into status, and individuals born without it."

Adelaide had known discussing blood purity would be a controversial matter – what she hadn’t expected was the sheer amount of participation involved. For no sooner had the Headmistress posed the question than nearly every hand in the class went up, proving not only that the students were listening but that they all wished to engage. Adelaide Goshawk could count on one hand how many times in her life she had been taken aback, and this was one of them. For no matter what year, family or inclination her students were of, they all wanted to offer an opinion on this complicated issue.

“Well done ladies, take five points each,” she announced after hearing each student speak up their views on blood purity and the different structures of power that existed. The purebloods would likely find themselves in an awkward situation, having to justify their version of power while the Muggleborns and Halfbloods would have an open platform to question it. “Truth be told, you’ve all managed to bring up a point and have a debate amongst yourself. You’ve also managed to find several answers amidst your own discussions.” If she was capable of it, Adelaide would have been impressed.

“We’ve seen birthright, documented history and public opinion used as the hallmarks of power, and in truth, none of these can be discounted, especially when one plans to hold on to something as ethereal and insubstantial as “power”. Which is why with every change in dynasty, the definition of power also changes, because when you reach the top, you control the narrative, you get to rewrite and redefine the rules, and you do it to best benefit you.” The class was again pin drop silent as she gestured to the blackboard, the lights that had turned on softly dimming back down for her presentation. On the board, a few simple animated figures exchanged cows for a boat in a clear indication of the barter system.

“Power used to mean the possession of animals, land, vehicles, things in general,” she spoke as the picture changed, this time showing a king buying a group of slaves with a bag of gold. “Then it changed to money, gold, silver, bronze. Somehow things you couldn’t directly eat or use became the means with which by you gained power.” The board cleaned itself again, this time, replacing the old image with one of documents being passed through a circle of robed wizards. “Then it was decided that power would be contained within documents that only symbolized how much money an individual had, regardless of whether they had the physical currency to back it up.” Once again, the board was rendered blank, this time a man with a camera appeared, snapping a photo of a woman behind bars. “And today, our power comes from information; we value information more than money, more than animals, more than lands, certainly more than human life. The public image is what sinks or floats us and so we take great care to maintain it.”

Adelaide paused once again, willing her students to understand her point. If there was one thing they could take away from this class, it should be the shifting nature of power and those who wielded it. “This is why, when we talk about who the strangest unit of a group of people are, we don’t say army or rulers. The strangest unit of the wizarding world are families. Families that aspire to power, reach it and then spend several generations keeping that power through careful planning and maintaining a pulse on the world as it changes. If you look into the four families that govern the wizarding world more than any laws today, you will not find them attached to one trade, one vocation or one interest. They oversee almost all matters in their geographical jurisdiction, they exercise control in all matters related to their area and they fight for their right to continue doing so every day. Which brings us to our next point.”

This time, the lights slowly turned on, waking the students to their harsh exposure. The blackboard wiped itself clean and waited patiently but Adelaide had no use for it. “The renowned and celebrated French Philosopher Nicholas Flamel once stated that there are only two ways to gain power, through the Dagger or the Coin.” As she spoke, on each student’s desk appeared a silver dagger carved at the handle with a random animal and a single gold coin. The visuals weren’t always necessary, but she found them helpful as teaching aids regardless. “I’d like you to evaluate both objects in front of you, and tell me which one is more useful in the pursuit of gaining power within this classroom. If you choose to be insolent and argue the merits of both, I expect nothing less than a perfect answer.”

Clara followed the lesson closely, jotting down notes when necessary. She looked up at the question, and considered the two objects before her. A dagger and a coin...she knew which one she was leaning towards, but took a moment to construct her argument before she spoke. She picked up both and studied them, then set the dagger back down on her desk. She raised her hand.

"If we're looking at modern history, as in, the last several centuries, the coin is the most useful asset in gaining and keeping power. It is common for the lower classes to rebel with violence, yet it is extremely rare for them to succeed in gaining power for any significant amount of time unless they are backed up by wealth.

"The reason for this is because the two are not unrelated. Weapons and soldiers can conquer a nation, but you need money to buy weapons and soldiers. Whoever has the most money likely has the better army, and can thus effectively suppress any violent insurrection from the unorganized masses.

"With only a dagger, you have one option, and that's to fight your way to the top. With money, you can buy whatever you need--you're not limited to just one path. You could buy a thousand daggers if you wanted, or you could provide enough resources for your people that they wouldn't want to rebel against you in the first place. A leader who rules only through violence is likely to be overthrown, but a leader who is able to satisfy the masses will remain in power for as long as they are able to do so."

She wanted to go on to elaborate further, but she was afraid of sounding repetitive, so she left it there.

Dominique then listened as the headmistress asked another question. And Dominique knew that she had to give a good answer. As she knew that the headmistress only wanted the best. And there was nothing wrong with that. She then listened to what everybody else was giving. Wondering if she should even try as they were really good. But she was going to give it her best shot and hope for the best. That is when she raised her hand and took a breath. “ Both the coin and the dagger can be used to gain power.” Now she had to explain why she thought this.

“ There are some who have taken their power by force. While others have bought their power. As I don't think that you should have to take power by force. I know that there are others who would think differently.” Hopefully that was a good enough answer for the headmistress.

Adelaide listened as, one after the other, the students spoke up. Not quite hitting the mark but that was only to be expected. The earlier round had gone well enough that the class could only go downhill from there onwords. And this would teach her to expect too much from what were still fundamentally, growing minds. The best she could now hope for was that this class proved conducive to said growing process.

"While the ability to speak up on such a complex matter is admirable... for some," she began, composing her words carefully so as to sound out her praise in the form of a disappointed reproach. "Sometimes, a question is exactly as it seems. Our mind likes to imagine patterns, trickery and shadows where are non, and all our answers today are a result of that need to fill in the details. Some of you interpret the questioned as not what it was but what it could be. Some interpreted it correctly but chose no to pick an answer and some..." here she paused, her gaze lingering on the Gryffindor who had looked promising not half an hour ago. "Some decided to summarize Flamel's intricate theory in conjunction with the state of the wizarding world today to a two liner."

Giving the students to digest her remarks, she carried on a minute later. "Regardless, take three points each for, technically, contributing to the discussion. Fear not for you will have the opportunity to redeem yourself in this week's homework." Papers rustled and quills scratched as she spoke those words, harried students jotting down her every word for her homework had garnered a reputation of their own.

"But before we get into that, here's an interesting fact." The headmistress refused to water down something fascinating with the word "fun" prefixed to it. Fun facts were not interesting, and interesting facts were not fun, in the redhead's opinion. "In Durmstrang Institute, it is a tradition to give a single dagger and a single coin to each student upon acceptance. The idea of the two objects is to multiply them, over the course of the students' stay at the school. Whether a student wishes to buy a second dagger using his coin, steal a coin from a fellow classmate who isn't paying attention or win one off an upperclassmen in a battle of wit or on the dueling stage. At the end of eight years of study, the number of coins and daggers you graduate with amount to the worth of your negotiation skills."  

The system, in Adelaide's opinion, worked better than any lecture on economics, diplomacy or stealth. "So keep your coins with you, and your daggers. The daggers have been charmed to not pierce anything should you try to get handsy with them. Bring both items to your final class of the year and let's see how many you managed to accumulate in addition from now until May."

No doubt the exercise would appear strange to most but it was one they sorely needed to learn lest they leave the world ignorant of the art of negotiation and multiplying their assets. Even those of prestigious families knew nothing of how those families were run, this would be a good method for educating the higher echelons of society as well as the every day students that walked through the hallowed halls of Hogwarts.  

"And now for your homework. Keeping Flamel's theory of power through the dagger and the coin, choose any past or contemporary Pureblood Elite family and compose a three feet long essay about their rise to power utilizing one or both of Nicholas Flamel's theoretical components. As always, late submissions will not be tolerated."

With that, the doors to the classroom clicked open, announcing the lecture over.