Four Fictional School Alternatives to Consider

September means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. For kids, it means the end of the sweet freedoms and summer trips that they’ve been enjoying for the last two months. Nothing turns a smile into a frown faster than mentioning the return of going back to school. While they’re settling in now and learning their reading, writing and arithmetic, here are four movie schools that kids would love to be attending.

I can think of more than a dozen kids who have admitted to waiting for an owl to show up and deliver their invitation to Hogwarts. Ask any kid if they want to attend a magic school and they’d have their bags packed before you can say “Expelliarmus!”. Here you learn about all varieties and sorts of magic: charms, potions, transfiguration and more. Your teachers are here to help whenever they can (or at least, when (a) they’re good and (b) they’re not dealing with their own dangers). Even the extra-curriculars are magical (no pun intended!) with the fast paced action of Quidditch. All you have to do to get here is find Platform 9¾. Happy hunting!

Ever felt like you don’t fit in? Perhaps Xavier Institute is a safe place for you. Opened by Charles Xavier as a place to keep mutants safe (and occasionally educate them at the same time), the Xavier Institute is the only one of its kind. Here there’s a Danger Room that houses a battle simulator, medical and research labs where students can work on a variety of topics and subjects, and the Cerebra chamber with only the most powerful mutant detecting system on the planet. The only thing to be careful of is unexpected school closures: the school is well-known for being destroyed or attacked on a semi-regular basis.

Okay, so the School of Rock is a little less a school and a little more just a classroom. This class doesn’t follow your typical elementary school curriculum. In this classroom you can graduate with a bonafide degree in the history of rock and roll. There’s also a class project that you have to participate in, where your class becomes a band under the guidance of your teacher, Mr. Dewey Finn. If you’re good enough, you get to enter the Battle of the Bands and represent your school at one of the top musical competitions ever. How’s that for getting an education?

You think trying to survive in your high school is bad? Try surviving at Sky High, where the kids are all descendants of superheroes. Classes here are about developing your skills, strength, and superpowers. The problem with superhero genes is that they don’t always carry down the way they should, which means at this school, you’re a hero or a sidekick. Better hope you have it in you to be a hero, otherwise it’s going to be a really long stay for you here at this school.

So what do you think? Which school would you want to attend? Weigh in below with a comment!