A LONG TRAIN OF THOUGHT re: BULLYING, BAD TEACHERS, BOOK LEARNING, AND SLAVERY

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 43758

MariaJ wrote:

<< the headmistress says (and my blood runs cold): "In my experience 
of school life, it is a girl's own fault when she is persecuted. ... 
Keren is a hopeless little prig--" (snip) Just Patty was written in 
1911, and the views expressed in it are obviously out-of-date. >>

I can assure you, from my personal experience, that that was still 
the opinion of parents and schoolteachers until at least the late 
1960s, at least here in Los Angeles, California.

MariaJ wrote:

<< but I'm not so sure even Dumbledore, that most enlightened of 
muggle-lovers (no sarcasm intended), would see the need for A Plan 
Against Bullying. >>

Even if Dumbledore knows all about bullying, he would see no need 
for the faculty to get involved. He would think that it is a good 
learning experience for the victim to solve the problem on his/her 
own. Remember, JKR said in an interview that Dumbledore lets Snape be 
such a nasty professor because Dumbledore believes that dealing with 
unfair authorities is a learning experience. The Goat Pad 
http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/ found the quote for me:
http://www.yahooligans.com/content/chat/jkrowlingchat.html

lhhicks99 asks: Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape 
to be so nasty to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and 
Neville)?
jkrowling_bn: Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in 
life...
jkrowling_bn: horrible teachers like Snape are one of them!

Gabrielle wrote:

<< Has having 'less than wonderful' teachers been decided by someone 
as the best way to learn? >>

Surely not as the BEST way to learn, or Flitwick would and Sprout 
would be out of work. But, as above quoted, Dumbledore *does* think 
it useful to have some less than wonderful teachers. I can't remember 
whether it was JKR or HPfGU who said that Dumbledore keeps Trelawney 
around to give students the opportunity to learn to recognize frauds 
-- I hope it was HPfGU, because I like to believe that, fraudulent as 
old Sybil herself is, she nonetheless can teach students who DO have 
the talent of Divination how to use it.

Olivia wrote:

<< Professor Binns may give a very dry class in lecturing directly 
from his notes, but it's part of the curriculum and the students need 
to learn it. >>

I'm not at all sure that the students *do* need to learn it. This is 
about Muggle students taking California, US, and World History in 
school, not just about Hogwarts students taking Magical History. I 
think History is rather interesting, but it's only *useful* in terms 
of 'those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it", that 
is, learning from past examples what to do (or, at least, what not to 
do) now  -- for example, the Congressional debate on the declaration 
of war (okay, formally it was a resolution to give the President 
authority to order the armed forces to attack, but really it was a 
declaration of war) on Iraq in 1990 had speeches comparing the 
situation to the Pelopennesian War as reported by Thucydides and to 
the Vietnam War as embedded in personal memories. 

And Binns' class teaches them *nothing* about past examples. Why was 
there a Werewolf Code of Conduct, how was it imposed, what were the 
results? All they do is memorize *dates*. 

Carol wrote:

<< Book learning alone doesn't necessarily lead to independent 
thinking. It's not until one thinks about that learning that it 
becomes true knowledge, knowledge that can lead to independent 
thought and "practical" use. >>

And Binns's memorized dates don't have enough meat on them for the 
students to *think* about them.

Carol wrote:

<< Here's my thinking on this: if one is a slave, they don't have to 
think about what to do. They are simply told. They don't need to 
agonize over any moral decisions (generally speaking). Therefore, in 
a sense they are free. On the other hand, if one is free, they have 
to constantly make decisions and figure out what to do. (snip) I had 
wondered why JKR stuck the House-elves subplot in book 4, which 
seemed to have quite a bit to deal with already. >>

JKR said in an interview that she didn't want to have a S.P.E.W. 
subplot, but Hermione insisted. The Goat Pad found 
http://www.cinescape.com/0/Editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Books&actio
n=page&obj_id=25917

"Hermione gave me a lot of trouble!" laughed Rowling. "She was really 
misbehaving. She developed this big political conscience about the 
House elves. Well, she wanted to go her own way, and for two 
chapters, she just went wandering off. I just let her do it and then
I scrapped two chapters and kept a few bits."

As for slaves choosing to remain slaves, back in Message 37561, I 
recommended a Scientific American article about exactly that: 
http://www.sciam.com/2002/0402issue/0402bales.html