Dumbledore and Teaching

meboriqua at aol.com meboriqua at aol.com
Thu Jun 21 17:46:33 UTC 2001


No: HPFGUIDX 21267

Hooray for Ebony!  I couldn't have said it better myself!

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Ebony Elizabeth Thomas" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote: 
> You know, if it wasn't for your ship preference, Jenny, I'd think 
we were HP 
> fandom twins.  ;-)  Same favorite character... same views on most 
things...

Just remember, I love a good party and leave plenty of room on the 
good ships R/H *and* H/G... come aboard any time - I do not 
discriminate against other shippers!
> 
> Because of our perception that teachers are all talentless lugs, 
unfit to do 
> anything beside be overpriced babysitters, we look at talented 
people who 
> choose to go into education and write them off as hopeless 
eccentrics and 
> dreaming fools.
> 
> Yet how do we know that McGonagall, Snape, Lupin, etc. aren't among 
the most 
> powerful and talented witches and wizards of the world?  

I believe that they are.  Snape has a bravery, aside from his Potions 
talent that I could never possess.  Lupin has been able to overcome 
the small handicap of being a werewolf to become a beloved professor 
who really knows his stuff.  As for McGonagall - any teacher who 
needn't shout to keep the class quiet is a good teacher in my book!  
I have an enormous amount of respect for McGonagall.  I'd study my 
butt off for her classes.

> 
> Jenny, I think only teachers understand this.  Nobody sane teaches 
for the 
> money.  We teach because of the 1001 "little rewards" that we get.
> 
> Just like Hermione's mentoring relationship with McGonagall, 
Snape's with 
> Draco, and Harry's with Dumbledore, real-life teachers form those 
kinds of 
> mentorships with real-life kids.

Absolutely.  The fact that Harry always feels safe when Dumbledore is 
around is an enormous compliment to Dumbledore.  When my students 
passed their English Language Arts Regents Exam last week, two of my 
girls said to me "You did a good job with us!".  I almost cried.

> 
> I say my friends can keep their bonuses and stock portfolios... I'm 
ensuring 
> that businesses get qualified workers in the future.  Without me, 
Jenny, and 
> the millions of others who teach, there wouldn't be any 
corporations at all!
> 
> I wonder if Snape feels the same way I do when all of the kids in 
his 
> Potions class have prepared the concoction of the moment correctly--
even 
> Neville.

How could he not?  I am sure that he loves passing on his knowledge 
to his students, even if he isn't too crazy about them.  I am waiting 
for the day when Harry really needs Snape's help (and I believe he 
will), because I think Snape will help him.  As nasty as he is to a 
good portion of his students, I never felt that Snape hated 
teaching.  I can't prove that - just call it teacher's intuition, I 
guess.
> 
> We teach because if we didn't, who would?

Ebony, I don't know, but I wouldn't give up teaching for anything.  I 
adore my students and they know it.  People also do not realize how 
loyal kids are when they trust and like you.  Since I teach in the 
South Bronx, a number of my students have had problems with the law.  
They are not afraid to fight.  They have offered to beat people up 
for me, which sounds strange, but coming from them, is a highly paid 
compliment (and as tempting as it is, I have never taken them up on 
their offers).  It is their way of letting me know that they trust me 
and don't want harm to come my way.  

To bring it back to HP, in PoA, when the troika confronted Snape in 
the Shreiking Shack, they used their wands against them partly 
because they did not like how he was treating their other teacher, 
Lupin.  That's student loyalty!
> 
> 
> >Give me Hogwarts any day!  Although as a teacher in the NYC public
> >school system, I might be a bit biased here.
> 
> LOL!  You're in NYC?  We must talk... I say we both find enchanted 
owls and 
> write proposals to Hogwarts about a new and expanded Muggle Studies 
> curriculum... for which we know two *extremely* qualified 
instructors...
> 
As long as I don't have to work at the MoM (or any other office, for 
that matter), you can put me in the dungeons and I'll work magic (pun 
intended) with those kids...

--jenny from ravenclaw, who still loves her summer vacation*********





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