Let me preface this rant by saying that I do enjoy stargazing, okay? It's fun to look at the stars at night and I may or may not grin every time I spot Orion or the Seven Sisters. But what I don't think is right? Mandatory Astronomy classes. I mean - why?
In case you think I'm just blowing smoke or whinging because I don't want so much homework, let me see if I can explain just why I think this is a dumb... I mean, not a well-thought-out mandatory class for all Hogwarts students. I'm not saying that Hogwarts shouldn't offer Astronomy as an elective, but I just don't get why we all must take it starting in first year.
First point. Eleven-year-olds flat-out don't care about star charts and stuff. At least, not after the novelty of being up late at night wears off. Sure, there are some who find all that looking through telescopes and whatnot fascinating. I know I did at first, too. That is, until our first big end of the year exam when I realized that we were supposed to know all the tiny little details of Io's movement in the sky and how many rings Saturn has and exactly where Mars is in relation to Venus at eleven at night on a Tuesday in June. Also, it's not like the stars and planets and galaxies directly affect your magic, unless you're totally into Astrology and believe all that mumbo-jumbo about ascending signs and moons being in the seventh houses and whatever else they've come up with to predict dire fates. So why do we have to have five whole years of stargazing?
Which leads me to the second point - sleep. Like, think about it. That's only one of a whole bunch of classes that we have to take - and it means that it disrupts sleep patterns on a regular basis. That's one thing if it's an elective and specially tailored to minimize disturbance. It's totally another to be mandatory and frequent - because it's not just during class that you need to access those bloody stars, you know. Sure, models and textbooks are helpful, but just like with Quidditch, you need to practice if you're going to really be able to pass your OWLs. Filling out those charts under pressure is hard! And all this - for what? So you know what you're looking at in the night sky? I'm not a wayfarer. How is this possibly going to help me?
And that's my final point. What makes Astronomy so important that you have to study it for so long from such a young age? We're not Centaurs who have a whole philosophy around the stars; we're not actively using "star magic" other than knowing like the phases of the moon for stuff like Herbology, Potion-making, or Defense Against the Dark Arts. But it doesn't take five years to learn about the moon! That could easily be incorporated into the other classes, freeing up time in our schedules for some other mandatory class - or even extra Flying practice! Now, that would be an excellent use of our time and a very practical skill to practice - one that wouldn't disrupt sleep schedules and would benefit every student at Hogwarts for years to come. We could even work on night flying!