If you were on the Hogwarts PTA

[Susan Miller]

No: HPFGUIDX 47490

I'm not a parent, but I kind of have a problem with the way that WW 
parents handle animal hazards and their children.

Let's start with Hagrid - age 13. He is known to raise dangerous 
spiders, is suspected of keeping werewolf cubs, and is accused of 
releasing a lethal monster on the school. For this, he is expelled, 
but is kept on grounds at Hogwarts. From a parent's point of view, 
how does this solve the problem? The troublesome child is now 
forbidden to continue his education and possibly get some insights 
into the proper means of handling dangerous creatures. But he is not 
forbidden to KEEP them on the school grounds, and is in fact, 
encouraged to do so, by apprenticing to the gamekeeper. For the crime 
of releasing a murderous creature into the school population, I would 
think that more extreme measures would have been taken - moving him 
to a wizarding reform school or juvenile detention center. But 
no ....  They just break his wand and stop his education. Wouldn't it 
make more sense to keep him in school where adults might have some 
luck at discouraging his tendency to innocently create nests of 
lethal creatures?

Next - how about firing a known werewolf from the staff. OK, Lupin 
wasn't fired, but he believed he would be, so let's assume he's 
right. Actually, I'm thinking that most parents might want a werewolf 
caged and sedated, but that doesn't seem to have been a 
consideration. They just want him out of there. Again, if I'm a 
parent, I would rather have him visible where he can be controlled 
during his danerous periods, rather than running free who-knows-where 
without the benefit of a talented potions-maker nearby. I think the 
students liked him and he was a good teacher of a critical subject 
that they seem to have trouble finding competent instructors for. So, 
what is the problem?

Parents on the list - how would you have handled this?

~ Constance Vigilance ~