honorifics

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 55847

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "The Fox" <the_fox01 at h...> wrote:

> 
> Steve (bboy_mn) said:
> 
> >My personal opinion is that Professor is not just a courtesy title
> > for a teacher, but an acedemic credential equivalent to a Masters 
> > Degree.  This explains why Hagrid isn't a professor even thought 
> > he is a teacher. ...

> Fox:
> 
> Yes, and the previous Care of Magical Creatures teacher was
> Professor Kettleburn, so it's not a matter of the material.  At the 
> same time, though, Lockhart doesn't have a shred of academic 
> credentials that we know of ..., and the odds are neither does Lupin
> or Moody, and yet all three are called Professor.
> 
> Fox


bboy_mn:
Well, you've got me there. I do believe that the kids would address
most teachers as Professor as a default unless the teachers are
introduced by some other title. So Lockhart may have been addressed as
Professor, not as a title, but as a default form of courtesy. On the
other hand, Lockhart could have some academic credentials; knowing
him, they would probably be honorary. We can only speculate.

While we are speculating, I think it is likely that Lupin does have
acedemic credentials. His battered old suitcase said, "Professor
R.J.Lupin" or something close to that. In any event, the word
'professor' was printed on the case and appeared to have been there
for a long time. 

I speculate that since Lupin was not allowed to interact very much
with the normal wizard world, he spend a lot of time alone studying. I
always pictured his mother encouraging him to make something out of
himself and to use his free time to achieve something. So he studied
hard, submitted papers and research for review, and was eventually
awarded a Professoriate degree. For full details, you need to go back
to the many discussions of education in the wizard world where I have
rambled on at great length about my theory of after-Hogwarts education.

Moody is another matter. I can imagine scenarios in which Moody as a
top Auror was constantly keeping up on the latest advances in the
magic world, and he would have also gain a great deal of in-the-field
experience that could have been transferred to academic credentials.

Of course, without JKR specifically saying it, all we can do is
speculate about the possible ways in which the wizard world works.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn