Staffing at Hogwarts/subjects

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 78692

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sbursztynski" <greatraven at h...>
wrote:

> 
> Are there any qualified teachers at Hogwarts? ...some are good at it
> - Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout ...  But to teach... at Hogwarts you 
> don't need to have attended any wizards' teachers' college, 
> ...edited...

bboy_mn:

The historical method of training new wizards in fiction has been by
Master/Apprentice training. Many of the wizard's stories written in
fiction are actually written from the point of view of the Apprentice.
 Typically accounting his poor miserable existance until on day when a
mysterious stranger comes to their poor home and offer to pay the
family a sum of money if they will let there son come with him and be
his apprentice. Since it was almost impossible for a poor person to
get an education, the family usually gladly agrees. The son then sets
off on a great adventure which he recounts in the story.

The point is that the Master wizard training his apprentice is the
standard model and I believe that is the model the school follows. It
has simply assembled the Masters and the students into one location to
make training easier and more efficient. 

If you look at the sujects and how they are taught, Howgarts is more
like a wizard's techinal college than a general college. It focuses on
the practical application of specific skill rather than a cross
section of general or liberal arts edcuation.



> Sybill Trelawney was allowed to mess up Divination for 16 years' 
> ... maybe (Dumbledore could) make her library assistant ....?

bboy_mn:
The degree to which Trelawney is a competent Seer is not that relevant
to teaching the students. She does know the mechanics of tea leaf
reading, Tarot cards, palm reading, astrology, and other forms of
external divination. These are not that big a deal. The fact that they
can be defined clearly enough to have a text book written about them
indicates to me that virtually any intellectually knowledgable person
could teach them. 

Certain things like crystal gazing are more difficult, but it is the
psychic capability of the student that determine if they can see in
the crystal ball. All Trelawney has to do is convey the general
methods and techniques the students need to apply. Again, anyone could
teach that. 

My point is that while Trelawney may seem to be a marginal Seer that
doesn't necessarily make her ineffective as a teacher of Divination.

As far as whether Trelawney is a competent Seer of not, I think she is
better than we give her credit for. She did repeatedly see a big black
dog when she was reading Harry during Prisoner of Azkaban, and a big
black dog was present in Harry's life at the time, her mistake was in
assuming that the big black dog was a Grim. So, I think she does have
a general intuitive psychic vision, but she really stinks at
understanding and interpreting what she is seeing. 



> And does anyone in the wizarding world ever get to study literature, 
> history or music? There just doesn't seem to be room in the Hogwarts 
> curriculum. 
>
> Sue B

bboy_mn:

Since Hogwarts is like a vocational school, the answer is NO, they
don't study the arts, history, literature, music, etc.... If students
want to experience those, they mush pursue them on their own.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn