Dumbledore as Headmaster

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 2396

Here are a couple of recent list comments about Dumbledore:

eggplant88 at hotmail.com wrote:

> Well it wouldn't be the first time Dumbledore is plain clueless, he's
> Certainly not very good at picking faculty members for his school.

Steve Vander Ark wrote:

> As an teacher myself, I find Hogwarts to be sorely lacking in quality
> of education. Dumbledore is a nice guy and all, but he doesn't know
> how to run a school...

Ya know, you're right, and it's bothering me.  Throughout the series,
Dumbledore is portrayed as wise, as knowing what's going on--although he
seems to let events sort of progress on their own rather than actively
shaping them.  We know Voldemort fears him, that Dumbledore has a good
deal of input with the Ministry of Magic.  And yet, yeah, there's stuff
going on at the school that doesn't seem right.  Is there some kind of
balance he's trying to maintain that we're only dimly aware of, which
forces him to make compromises we don't know about?  (e.g., in order to
keep the Slytherin house under control, he is forced by some obscure
magical rule to let someone teach potions who has a hooked nose.  Or
something).

I believe that Dumbledore is wise, and that he is earned the respect he
is given by the wizarding world (and the thwarted snarls behind his back
he gets from the Deatheaters).  So what's up with his bad faculty
picks?  Well, I suppose he can't be blamed for Barty Crouch, Jr.--he
hired someone else, after all.  But Gilderoy Lockhart?  Trelawney?
Snape?  Bad luck, distraction, or some other mysterious design?

Or maybe the teachers who are so terrible (Snape, Trelawney) were hired
by his predecessor and have tenure and he can't get rid of them?

(Do English/Scottish schools HAVE tenure?)

Peg