House Point Inflation
Jan. 15th, 2007 02:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenbarwenchSomething that's bothered me since I started reading HP fanfic is House Point Inflation.
I went to a private school. We had Houses; we earned house points. And you know what? We worked bloody hard for each individual point. I had to get three full marks on tests or essays to get one house point. Five points in one go was a huge deal. Twenty points was for winning an inter-house competition or some such thing.
When the prefects can casually give and take house points in such quantities as fifty at a time, the system becomes meaningless. The hard work for one point becomes such a small percentage of the whole total as to become unworthy of the effort. Why work for any housepoints in class? Just go for the big scores.
It's very similar to monetary inflation. Even thirty years ago, the Pound went a long way. Today, you can't get an ice-cream for less than £1.50, and prices are only going to go up. If you don't have a fixed scale of values, the House Point is devalued in the same way as the Pound.
The House Point scheme has two purposes. It serves as a means of healthy competition across a spectrum of activities, supposedly inspiring the pupils to strive for better results. It also serves as a punishment and reward system, implementing a tribal group-policing effort wherby those who earn rewards for the group are popular and those who earn punishment are shunned. A desire to be accepted within the group means good behaviour. Think what you like about the latter; we are still tribal creatures at heart.
Each point should be earned and valued. Otherwise the scheme fails at both motivation and regulation. One point for achievement in class; two-five for minor misdemeanors, five-twenty for major infractions. And, of course, fifty points for defeating Voldemort and saving the school!
I went to a private school. We had Houses; we earned house points. And you know what? We worked bloody hard for each individual point. I had to get three full marks on tests or essays to get one house point. Five points in one go was a huge deal. Twenty points was for winning an inter-house competition or some such thing.
When the prefects can casually give and take house points in such quantities as fifty at a time, the system becomes meaningless. The hard work for one point becomes such a small percentage of the whole total as to become unworthy of the effort. Why work for any housepoints in class? Just go for the big scores.
It's very similar to monetary inflation. Even thirty years ago, the Pound went a long way. Today, you can't get an ice-cream for less than £1.50, and prices are only going to go up. If you don't have a fixed scale of values, the House Point is devalued in the same way as the Pound.
The House Point scheme has two purposes. It serves as a means of healthy competition across a spectrum of activities, supposedly inspiring the pupils to strive for better results. It also serves as a punishment and reward system, implementing a tribal group-policing effort wherby those who earn rewards for the group are popular and those who earn punishment are shunned. A desire to be accepted within the group means good behaviour. Think what you like about the latter; we are still tribal creatures at heart.
Each point should be earned and valued. Otherwise the scheme fails at both motivation and regulation. One point for achievement in class; two-five for minor misdemeanors, five-twenty for major infractions. And, of course, fifty points for defeating Voldemort and saving the school!
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-15 08:52 am (UTC)You know, I went off on a complete rant there about house points/group incentive schemes...got rid of it cos it was rambling too far...
If the books reflect the house point inflation accurately, then the system sucks...could just be that she didn't attend a school where house points were so difficult to get...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-17 10:42 pm (UTC)No, the problem lies within fanfic where everyone making up their own rules as they go along. I suppose a significant contribution to the problem is that very few people have any particular experience with a House system at school. It's not exactly a prominemt feature of the average Comp. Also, many of the American writers don't have any grasp of how our education system works, it being significantly different from their system.
Hmmm... maybe I should post a guide to the UK school system here... Not tonight though - am knackered!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 08:44 am (UTC)...and you know, I've just realised I still haven't read the new lkh I bought before xmas...
:)
Hope you manage to stop being knackered soon...