Hogwarts: should it remain open? ***STARTED***

After Half Blood Prince, the question remains at whether Hogwarts should remain open. This debate will cover both sides of the argument. Why should or shouldn't it open?

Sign up here for the debate. Please put your name and house name.

You can NOT choose which side you will be on.

the first two members from each house will be selected for the debate, and a new post opened for them to begin their debate. There will be one person from each house on either side of the debate.

sides:
For: Yes, it should remain open

Against: No, it should close

please read the announcement within this debate forum. As soon as the two people from each house has signed up, the debate will start!

Ravenclaw - Roman and kitkat
hufflepuff -Just_Ginny and Trixie_Twizzler
Slytherin - Fated4HP and charmed granger
Gryffindor -WaterLily and running_swift

I'd really like to do this debate. Sorry I slacked off on the other one but this one I want to do! :D Slytherin I do this for
Jesse

I'm going to try and be productive on this one too. FOR HUFFLEPUFF I SHALL SIGN UP!

AND ME FOR GRYFFINDOR!!!!!

Lol...I love debates...

But now, I will go and fetch an ice cream...tis bloody hot in Manchester and that is not a complaint you will hear often!

lol, um..i would like to try this one! Im in Hufflepuff, it is my 1st time so yea...lol

I'm gonna be productive now and get involved with something, so me me me me me me me me!!!! (I sound so vain; not a good thing) Time to do the Gryffindors proud!!

can I try for slytherin though i dont know if i will be on when you start this debate but i will try to lock my mum in te cupbard so i can be for slytherin

This one I can do, either side, it's all good.

If there is space for a little raven then im your girl

((Okay this is my first debate so be nice to be guys...))

Hogwarts is a wonderful school, and I agree it will be a shame it will have to close.

But it definitely has to. You see, sending the students to Hogwarts could put them in danger, since Albus Dumbledore is no longer there to protect them. The future of the world does need to be taught magic, but they also need to survive to be the future. So, what's the point of sending them there if there is a high chance of them being killed in the line of fire?

And, certainly, the school will become a battle ground either way. The Death Eaters have gotten in before, who's to say they aren't going to do it again? In fact, the Death Eaters could possibly try to take control of Hogwarts, since it is heavily guarded with spells and charms. But, as we have already seen, possible to break in.

And if the Death Eaters come in, certainly Voldemort will not be too far behind. I mean, he does have very strong connections to the school. And the Chamber of Secrets could be used as a sort of escape for him. Good thing the basilisk is dead.

And now, as I've said, there is nothing to stop him from going there! Albus Dumbledore is dead! Betrayed and killed by Severus Snape, one of his own professors.((OOD: who we all know is secretly good....I love you Elfie!))

In the end, the deciding factor is to ensure the safety of the students. But, hasn't the school already been deemed unsafe? Why risk the students to see if the school should be deemed unsafe? Does a child have to die to prove that Hogwarts should be closed? I don't think so. It should be stopped before it even starts.

((*OOD means Out of Debate lol))

I agree that Howgarts should close. I also agree that the students need somewhere to study, to nurture their minds and prepare for the world outside of school., Quidditch and essays not done on time.

I'm sure that you must be forgetting our Brother and Sister Schools in Europe? Durmstrang and Beauxbatons?

Voldemort's enemies are here in England. He has no business abroad, and yet so far, has not been interested in capturing and taking control of other countries. Therefore, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang could be suitable alternatives for the duration in which Hogwarts has been forced to close.

As Ginny has rightly said, the safety of students is the main issue at stake. While they are at school, their safety lies in their Professors' hands. It must! Think of over 1000 under-age witches and wizards cooped up in a castle: there is a reason for the Under-Age Magic Ban...

So if the professors cannot guarantee their safety, we should be glad that they are taking their responsibility seriously...not taking it for granted and claiming they can live up to the protective spells of the greatest wizard of the age, and even his protection was foiled...by a mere sixteen-year-old death eater...

I'm sorry ladies but I must disagree with it closing. I feel that it should remain open.

~clears his throat~

For many many years, Hogwarts has been home to thousands of students. The four founders created this school for our children and our children's children to learn, to excel and to succeed with valuable knowledge that will help them, motivate them and prepare them for the magical challenges within our Wizarding World.

I can see that the scare of Death Eaters and Voldemort's rising would cause you all to want to close the school. You both have excellent points of views and I commend you for them, but perhaps you do not understand what Hogwarts has meant to not only the students, but the parents and the Wizarding World.

Why close this school? Why close one of the landmarks of our great world of magic because of the threat of Death Eaters?

Witches and Wizards through the ages have faced and battled evil beings and monsters yet none of them were strong enough to take over Hogwarts, now were they?

I know that we are facing some very difficult times here and while your reasons of closing the school are valid, I feel my reasons for it staying open are valid as well.

We should not deprive our young children of the great teachings done within these classrooms.
Hogwarts isn't just a school; to many it is a home!

Would you leave your own home because of the threat of evil wizards in your neighborhood??

Of course not! ~slams hand onto podium making a strong statement~ Yes there are great dangers we face in this world, and often times we want to run away and do what is easy.

Closing Hogwarts will Not stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters from coming. They will still come. If Hogwarts closes, these evil being will simply go to your homes!
~sighs sadly~
Without Dumbledore... yes...it seems that Hogwarts is not safe.
But stop. Look. Listen.
All around us there are memories here, some good some bad, but never the less they are memories!

Hogwarts should not be closed. The students and teachers that are loyal to this school want to stay. They want to stand their ground and fight for glory of this prestigious school.
In the words of our dearly departed Dumbledore "When the times comes you will have to decide what is right and what is easy."

~looks to his fellow debaters~

Closing Hogwarts sounds like the 'easy' solution here...but I ask you, my fellow debaters ~raises a brow~

Do you want Hogwarts to close because it's right or...because it's easy?

(whoa..heh I really am into this debate. :D )

Very nice Jesse, very nice indeed. *claps slightly*

Yes, Hogwarts was built to teach our children, and the future generations after them. But don't we have to make sure there are future generations for the school to teach? What if, once again, the Death Eaters broke into the school and mass murdered all of the students in there? In one quick moment in time *snaps her fingers* all those lives, the future of magic-gone.

Hogwarts is indeed a National land mark of ours, and we are all quite proud of it. But, that is not a valid reason for keeping it open. What if, say, the Eiffel tower in France started falling apart, and they had to repair it, rebuild it even! But, they did not, because it was too much of a national land mark? No, they would not. This is about practicality, not our national pride. And what is practical is to protect our children from the danger inside the school.

I myself, as others indeed do, call Hogwarts a home. But, think about your statement.

Would you leave your own home because of the threat of evil wizards in your neighborhood??

Yes, I would do it if it protect my family. You call it running away, because running away is easy. But it is not easy to run away from your home-as it is not easy to close Hogwarts. But for the safety of our families, by Merlin's beard I'd do it!

Yes, they'll come, I do not deny it. But must we send out children to a place where they're all cooped up in together? Better to spread ourselves out, that way, it becomes harder to find a higher concentration of us.

You say closing Hogwarts is the "easy" solution. I must disagree. It is not easy to close our beloved school, but it is right for the safety of the wizarding community!

Look at what happened while Dumbledore was here-in a recent year.

Students were searched/wanded for "bad magic". All packages going in and out of the school were screened.

And yet, somehow, two cursed object managed to make their way to the school and nearly kill two students! One, a poisoned bottle of mead, which made it's way onto the school grounds-even into a professor's office!
The other was a cursed necklace, that nearly killed the student who was cursed to give it to someone.
Why was this? Because packages sent from neary towns were not checked. They were "trusted". We've been trusting long enough, we need to stop somewhere, or else we shall end up extinguishing our race-our way of life.

(Blah I know I suck at this but give me some credit hehe)

I can see your points Ginny but I see no reason to close Hogwarts because of the threat of evil invading. It's the easy way out...~sighs and shakes his head~

At this school the students have learned far more than anyone could imagine. Yes some of the teachers were not trustworthy, but most were. And there are always a few bad wizards in the mix but we do not abandon the entire Wizarding World now do we?

~throws his hands up to make a statement his voice becomes a bit more louder and with some emphasized sarcasm~
BUT...If you want to close Hogwarts then fine. Let's do it. Let's just tear our students away from the school and close it! While we're at it, let's also close the Ministry of Magic for Merlin knows that there were untrustworthy people there! Lucius Malfoy for example. Or...or better yet, let's just all pack up our things and leave our beloved homes and just flee to the muggle world! Yes let us try to feel safe there until Voldemort and the Death Eaters end up finding us there as well and then what? What do we do? We will have run out of places to run to. ~pauses and sighs deeply lowering his voice and his head slightly; resting both hands on the podium~after taking a breath he speaks more slowly~

My point here, ladies and gentleman is that we can only run for so long and we can only hide for a short time until we are found. And probably by that time we'll be so used to running away that we will have forgotten our bravery, our strengths and we will have lost our courage to fight.
By closing Hogwarts, we are running. I don't care what you call it. It IS the easy way out. And we can't abandon our school, and our home just to run in fear of Voldemort.

Hogwarts give us the tools, the knowledge, and the drive to become strong witches and wizards for the future to battle things like this, to fight enemies like this!
And Dumbledore; yes I agree 100% that he was a brilliant, powerful wizard. He achieved a lot in his lifetime here but... he was not perfect. He was not a god or an invincible being.

Death is a part of our life cycle and we can choose to run from it or face it head on. I would most certainly want to face it and put up a fight for what I believe in.
This is why I am willing to stand on these grounds of this great school and fight for it to stay open. Yes fighting will hard but we have a chance-even if it is slim- to win.

By running we lose everything, by fighting we stand a chance to be victorious.

And there will be death, but where one of our own falls and dies, several others rise up in their place and take a stand. We have to take a stand against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. If we run, they will come after us and kill us quickly and easily. They will laugh and calls us cowards.

And we are not cowards! We did not learn cowardice at this school and by Merlin we should NOT start showing it now!

We can not let Voldemort and his Death Eaters bully us! We are not going to lie down and let them kill us easily! Voldemort wants this school closed so that he doesn't have to worry about anyone else learning and excelling and surpassing him through the knowledge obtained here!

By closing this school you'd be playing right into his evil hands!

The students' well-being IS a great concern but as I have stated, even if Hogwarts were to close, it wouldn't get rid of the Death Eaters. It wouldn't get rid of the forces of evil who threaten our world every day and night of every waking hour. And so I'd say that it'd be best to keep Hogwarts open, be cautious, enhance security but not run away and not close and abandon the school.

Hogwarts is our school, it's where we send our kids to become some of the best and brightest most powerful witches and wizards of our time. It is because of this and more that we shouldn't close Hogwarts.

Eek!!! *runs into the room* With thanks to the playback charm I set up in the room, I can now listen to what has happened so far! *listens* All righty then, time for Swift input!!

(FYI, like Gin, this is my first debate, so be nice!! XD)

I agree with everything that Jesse has said so far. Closing the school down will only strengthen the darker forces of evil - by closing the school down we are literally giving them the war to win. And (she says, glaring meaningfully at everyone in the room), we don't want that to happen, do we?

Jesse has already mentioned that taking the easy way out - that is, closing the school down - is cowardice. Furthermore, what will the Death Eaters think of people who can be labelled as cowards? I'll tell you: weak. And weakness, unfortunately, gives THEM the advantage. If we back down, we can only back down more, for they are sure to advance further into the school, and therefore further into the community that has kept the school strong - the students and professors. These two are the body of the school - they keep it together, keep it solid. Without them, there would BE no school!

This brings me onto another thing. School, although something that most people absolutely 'hate', is part of a person's emotional attachment. Each individual will connect with everybody in the school, students and professors alike. If we were to take that away from them, people will be more vulnerable to the dark side - another thing that we don't want! We need to keep the strength of the school alive so that the strength of the people will still live!

Hogwarts must stay open!

Indeed and well spoken, Swifters.

Yes, we want to keep the school open for not only personal reasons but for practical as well. We want strong forces.
Hogwarts can teach us how to be strong and what have we been going to Hogwarts to do? We go there to learn how to fight off evil like this. This is our future we're talking about.

The Wizarding World has only a few schools and so we must keep those schools going strong.

Hogwarts classes such as Defense against the Dark Arts class is an actual class for a reason. It is to help up Defend ourselves against Dark forces. I will admit that many of the teachers who have taught this subject were not qualified to do so, and we needed more direct approaches. But atleast we have a class that is specially designed for Defending ourselves and fighting against the Dark witches and wizards.

We must take into account that Hogwarts is still going strong despite the horrific events as of late. And instead of closing the school, we could instead enhance the magic field around it. Enhance security and take more precautions to prevent future attacks. Screen our professors more closely and make sure that they are adequitely able to handle and produce desired teaching results. Keep our eye on everyone and make sure to alert everyone should there be any reason to suspect a teacher or even a student.

Hogwarts doesn't need to close. It just needs to take precautions and prepare for future situations. We can learn from these past events where our faults lie and correct them and strengthen ourselves without going to the unecessary and extreme measures of closing the school.