Another sign of Hagrid's improvement as a teacher

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 41289

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "jenny_ravenclaw" <meboriqua at a...> wrote:

> Sorry for the aside comment there.  As for Hagrid bringing in the
baby 
> unicorns, I wondered when I first read this chapter, why he couldn't 
> have done more lessons like this to begin with.  Hagrid absolutely
has 
> the knowledge of all sorts of creatures that he can share with his 
> students, but 99% of the time, he chooses not to. 

99% of the time?  I can think of exactly one case where Hagrid chose
not to share his expertise with the students: the flobberworms.  That
was a very bad teaching decision on his part, motivated by fear and
insecurity; but it was the only one, and it came early in his career.

Hagrid began his teaching career with a lesson on hippogriffs.  Too
advanced for the third-years students, perhaps, but certainly not a
case of refusing to share his knowledge. He knew exactly how to deal
with the creatures, and he explained the requirements perfectly
clearly.  The students who paid attention and followed instructions
had no trouble.

In GoF, he starts off with the Skrewts.  Maybe I'm odd, but I see
nothing wrong with this.  They're experimental beasts that Hagrid is
developing at the Ministry's request, and he gets the students to help
with the experiment.  Yeah, the Skrewts are nasty, unattractive
beasts, and taking care of them is a drag.  You know what?  Tough
patooties.  The class is called "Care of Magical Creatures," not "Fun
with Cute Fluffy Things."

> Yes, here in NYC too.  I teach up in the Bronx and was a happy
camper 
> the day my probation ended.  However, Hagrid's unicorn class doesn't 
> show me he's trying to improve.  It showed me he was annoyed with 
> Grubbly-Plank and wanted to one-up her.  

I'm not sure where you get this from.  Hagrid has never shown signs of
competetiveness, jealousy of other people's success, exessive vanity,
or any other qualities that lead to one-upmanship.  Nor do I remember
him expressing any annoyance with Grubbly-Plank (I don't have a copy
of GoF with me, so correct me if I'm wrong); and Hagrid's not exactly
one to be subtle and understated with his emotional responses.  When
he's annoyed with someone, he shows it, usually through immediate and
exessive displays of anger.  He certainly doesn't engage in sneaky
underhanded maneuvers to make himself appear to superior to the person
he's annoyed with; Hagrid isn't clever enough for such maneuvers.

And the unicorns weren't an isolated example of a good lesson, as they
would've been if Hagrid was only trying to one-up his substitute.  He
then moved on to the nifflers, which were both entertaining and safe
for the students to handle.  They were almost as popular as the
unicorns.  From then on, there doesn't seem to be any problems in
Hagrid's class.

I think Hagrid observed Grubbly-Plank's example and was finally able
to strike the right balance between his own interest in dangerous
creatures and what's safe and interesting for the students.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com