Dumbledore as Headmaster

[milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 2441

I think Dumbledore hired Snape sometime after he was cleared of his 
Death Eater charges. Quite possibly Snape is at Hogwarts because he
is 
under Dumbledore's protection since he betrayed V. by spying on him.
We saw how scared Karkaroff was of potential V retaliation in GoF, so 
scared that he fled from Hogwarts when the Dark Mark burned. But
Snape 
chose to stay. He even told Karkaroff during the Yule Ball that he 
wouldn't leave. I think it has more to do with Dumbledore's
protection 
than it has to do with pure loyality.

As for Trelawney, (any educators here please don't hate me for this) 
maybe the people who are *good* at Divination are in the private 
sector and not in teaching due to monetary purposes (Hogwarts might 
not be well-paying for all we know). But Dumbledore in PoA did say 
that Trelawney has been correct before.

As for the DADA teaching position, Dumbledore has had bad luck. I 
really can't say if Quirrell was a competent teacher or not. On the 
other hand, I view the Lockhart debacle as an adult cautionary tale: 
an impressive curriculum vitae does not an impressive worker make. 
Lupin and even "Moody"/Crouch were good teachers, in my opinion. 

>From a learning point of view, I would be concerned about the DADA 
course. Harry and his classmates essentially wasted an entire year of 
DADA under Lockhart. Though they probably caught up under Lupin and 
"Moody"/Crouch, I think that hole in their education will catch up 
with them.



--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Peg Kerr <pkerr06 at a...> wrote:
> Here are a couple of recent list comments about Dumbledore:
> 
> eggplant88 at h... 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