Another sign of Hagrid's improvement as a teacher

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 41316

Jenny responds before sunbathing:

> Darrin, Darrin!  You're just baiting me, aren't you?  I have ten 
> minutes to make my point and then I am off to the beach for the day.

And I respond now that I'm off work:

Of course I'm baiting you. :)

> 
> First, let's be careful with those "against his nature" comments.  
Do 
> you really think it is in Hagrid's 'nature' to be attracted to big, 
> hairy and dangerous beasts?  Or is it just an interest that he 
allowed 
> to go out of control?
>  

Against his personality, I should have said. The canon supports it. 
He would rather deal with creatures with a bit of danger to them.



> >Grubby-Plank's lessons left the boys out. Hagrid, more skilled at 
> magical creatures, was able to capture the more difficult to find 
> babies.>
> 
> Yes, her lesson did, and this was one instance where JKR used one 
of 
> the most obvious and unpleasant stereotypes I've seen:  the man-
hating 
> lesbian.  I know I shall be flamed for this, but Grubbly-Planks 
close 
> cropped hair and barking voice at the boys, leaving them out is 
> cliched, cliched, cliched.  I can't figure out why JKR made her 
> character at all.
> 
> Sorry for the aside comment there. 


Aside comments are what make newsgroups like this thrive. Maybe I'm 
just too naive (or open-minded -- I'll take that one over naive) but 
my gay stereotype alarm didn't go off. I just saw a teacher who 
limited roughly half the class from participating in the lesson. It 
would be like taking a field trip to a place where boys aren't 
admitted.

But now that you've pointed it out, I see the stereotype. However, I 
don't see any CoMC teacher as being overly prissy, male or female.

 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. 
>   

Hokay, let's recap his two years as a teacher.

He starts with a challenging lesson, only to be short-circuited 
because a little brat who won't pay attention completely ignores the 
lesson. 

And don't give that Hagrid should have known Draco wasn't paying 
attention. 

If we're going to accept Snape threatening to kill Neville's pet if 
he doesn't mix the potion right, we have to accept Hagrid assuming 
that saying it once is enough.

The lesson goes horribly wrong, made worse by the fact that Draco 
fakes the severity of the injury and Lucius throws his weight around 
the Ministry and the board of governors. Hagrid screws up and 
completely retreats to flobberworms,  something safe, boring and 
because it went on so long, a waste of time.

Second-year: Hagrid starts with Skrewts, another challenging lesson, 
gets outed by a newspaper reporter (with some nasty lies thrown in by 
the Slytherins) and takes a day off.

He sees what the teacher did on his day off, goes with the lesson, 
improves it, and later carries on in the same vein with the Nifflers.

You don't see the growth there?

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.  It also proved to me that 
he 
> is *not* a good teacher because he has the knowledge but doesn't 
use 
> it. 


Why would he want to one-up a teacher who was a substitute??? Who 
cares? It's not like he has to fight off Snape for the job, like 
Lupin and Moody did.

As was pointed out, Snape, who you proclaim to be a better teacher, 
has committed some of the most inappropriate acts in the four books. 
It is inexcusable to undercut a fellow teacher like he did Lupin, 
simply because he wanted the job.

And if we're going to accept the Fantastic Beasts book as canon (do 
we?) then Snape GOT HIS FACTS WRONG when he subbed for Lupin in DADA. 
He said the Kappas come from Mongolia when they come from Japan.

If you're going to criticize Hagrid for bringing his problems with 
Buckbeak to HRH, then criticize Snape for not being able to keep 
schoolboy grudges against James and Lupin from getting in the way of 
being a fair teacher.

And I shake with rage every single time I read his treatment of 
Hermione, who is the best student in class. It's one thing to yell at 
screw-up Neville, but to drag down the bright students is just the 
sign of a petty person.  

The ONLY thing that will redeem Snape to me is if we find out he's 
had to act this way toward Hermione because he didn't want Draco and 
the others to go running to their DE daddies, saying that old Snape 
had gone soft and was coddling the mudbloods. 

Getting back to the one-upping. What if he did? The lessons improved, 
didn't they? You can attribute it to pettiness if you need to to make 
the anti-Hagrid comments, but in the end, the kids paid attention 
more.

 Not so long ago there was a teacher in my school who made Hagrid 
> look like the Disney's Teacher of the Year winner.  She often 
simply 
> sat by the door with her purse in her lap, staring at the 
students.  
> When she did teach, she spent weeks on one short story, or chose to 
> show videos to her class for days and days at a time.  She was by 
no 
> means stupid - she knew her literature, grammar, writing skills, 
all 
> of it.  She just couldn't share it with her students.  She was by 
far 
> the worst teacher I have ever seen and she was eventually fired 
from 
> the NYC Board of Education, which almost never happens.  
> 
> Hagrid reminds me of that teacher.  He has the knowledge, but not 
the 
> abilities.   
> 

But he hasn't given up. You're closer to describing Snape than Hagrid 
with that teacher. Snape doesn't seem to care if the students learn, 
doesn't try to change his approach to suit certain students' needs - 
as Lupin and Moody do - and pretty much views teaching as deigning to 
share his knowledge.

Your teacher has the knowledge but not the desire. You can't say that 
about Hagrid.

> > -- Hi, Jenny from Ravenclaw! Anxiously waiting your response ;)>
> 
> I knew you would be!  Now I am off to the beach.  Feel free to rip 
> into me and I'll get back at - sorry - to you later!
> 
Darrin
- Looking forward to it, Jenny :)