Beloit College: Potter Chronology FAIL!

[mijan]

I found this story originally on coffee_n_cocoa's LJ, HERE.

Apparently, Beloit College makes a list every year called the Annual Freshmen Mindset List.  It's a list of social/cultural things that define, in one way or another, the incoming class based on the world as it has been since they were born.  The "Mindset List" for the class of 2012 begins:

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

Let's hear it.  First, the SQUEE of the initial "Ooh, they mentioned Harry Potter!", then the silence as we realize their chronology is off by a decade.  Then, the long groan of fandomers who just want to inform these people of their grievous error, and then the collective sigh as we decide it's just not worth it.

Well, I was feeling rambunctious, so...

Hello,

Your "Class of 2012 Mindset List" was brought to my attention by a friend, and I had to inform you of your glaring error in item #1.

According to J.K. Rowling's chronology, Harry Potter would have been born on July 31st, 1980, not 1990. In other words, he'd be the exact same age as me: 28 years. He would have defeated Voldemort (or completed Hogwarts) at the same time as I graduated high school, in the spring of 1998, at the age of 17, just months before our 18th birthdays. If he were not fictional, he would certainly not be attending class or playing Quidditch with the current crop of college freshmen. By now, our fictional boy wizard would be a man working at the Ministry of Magic and raising his young children.

So, while I found the Potter reference to be quite amusing, it was incorrect and I wanted to let you know. If your Mindset List is indeed "a globally reported and utilized guide to the intelligent but unprepared adolescent consciousness," then it should be accurate, shouldn't it? I hope it hasn't been cited in too many sources yet.

Regards,
(My name here.)
Gryffindor, Hogwarts Class of 1998
Also University of New Hampshire, class of 2003.

I feel strangely accomplished.
:D

Comments

[lap-otter.livejournal.com]

Awesome. <3!

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Let us know if they write back!

[djin7.livejournal.com]

Heeeee! Ah, lovely.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I can understand the confusion; my little brother was 10 when the first HP book came out, and he just left for college.

Where is Rowling's chronology? She gave very little detail about the in-book year, so with the tech mentioned, it could have been anywhere from 1950-today.

[vampireanneke.livejournal.com]

I didn't take it to mean that Harry was the same age, but as a way to mention that they have grown up with HP all their lives that he seems real.

[nature-dude.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I too like that fact that Harry and I are the same age. Makes me think that I would be his friend. I think the University was trying to say that incoming freshmen are Harry Potter fans, and since the series is over, they believed he was their age. They probably haven't even read the books yet, or read any of Rowling's interviews. Good Job!

[lord--voldemort.livejournal.com]

<3333!!!
Thank you <3

[ravenqueen55.livejournal.com]

Yay you! That made me giggle, and then made me want to hug you for writing that letter. That's soooooo something I would do!!! *kicks the stupid people*

[aidenfire]

(reposted to fix formating error)

I'm class of 2011, not 2012, and I kind of get where the school is coming from, though. Regardless of what age Harry is in real time, it feels like he's grown up with us. I was about 11 when the first book came out, and had just finished my last year of high school when DH was released. It feels like he's about my age, even if he's meant to be older. So, props to you for giving them the facts...but Harry does sort of feel like a classmate to me. :)

[jedipirate.livejournal.com]

I am firstly highly amused that you're referencing something that I just happened to have open in a separate tab, because it was linked to in a work-related email.

And I'm secondly amused that you actually corrected them. I'm kinda curious now if they'll write you back. =Þ

[crikkita.livejournal.com]

Yes!! It had to be done.

And, you're exactly the same age as Harry?? I'm so insanely jealous!!!

Ooh, hang on, I think that would put me in the same class as Charlie Weasley. *drools* No, hang on, I'd be a year or two behind him (since my birthday is in September, I suppose I would be Hogwarts class of 1993, not 1992 as I actually was). But, still. I'd have been around to watch Charlie Seek for Gryffindor, and that's good enough for me.

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

You are made of win.

[mtranc3.livejournal.com]

You tell them girl! *is curious to see if they will answer back*

[agr8fae.livejournal.com]

So my mother just sent me just sent me that exact list (she's an architect for colleges) and I had just realized their timeline was off when I saw your post. Talk about coincidences!

[roma-fics.livejournal.com]

And some of us are the same age as Harry's parents and the other Marauders, oh and Snape too. :)

[aliciajd]

Much of the point of this annual listing is that the incoming class of University has a world view that is bound by the experiences they have received through current media. I think they are assuming that these kids don't read and are more strongly influenced by film and TV. The movie Harry, Daniel Radcliffe, is very close to the same age as this incoming class. Emma Watson is actually beginning her University career this autumn.

[phoenixsong71.livejournal.com]

OMG. I was just reading that article before I logged into LJ. Apparently fact checking and research is not something that generation grew up with. :D

[hpstrangelove.livejournal.com]

You go girl! I can't believe there is someone as anal on details as I am. I really want to know what they say.

Obviously, they did not do their research - I'm not sure that's the kind of school I'd want to be attending.

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I wonder if they'll respond...

[twilightsorcery.livejournal.com]

WIN. :D