Trelawney the fraud?

[KathyK]

No: HPFGUIDX 86854

Eric wrote:

>As for why she's at Hogwarts, I think that not only did Dumbledore 
want to protect her from people who'd have wanted to abduct her and 
torture her for information, but to expose the students to the 
methods of Divination, on the chance that one or another student 
might "click" with them.  She does seem to know her stuff about 
things like crystallomancy (crystal-ball reading), tea-leaf reading, 
and other things along those lines, and a familiarity with them 
can't hurt and might help.<

KathyK:

I'm going to point out before anyone else does that Dumbledore says 
(OoP, US 840):

"I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination 
teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject 
of Divination to continue at all.  The applicant, however, was the 
great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, and i 
thought it common politeness to meet her.  I was disappointed.  It 
seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself.  I told 
her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable 
for the post.  I turned to leave."

Initially I was going to argue Dumbledore only kept Trelawney around 
because of the prophecy as he seemingly had no love for the subject, 
and even if he did Trelawney would be a substandard choice for the 
position.  But as I read the quote, I began to think maybe 
Dumbledore reconsidered his view on Divination.  If this seemingly 
talentless seer could produce a true prophecy from time to time, 
perhaps it was a subject worth keeping around.  And as Eric 
mentioned, she does have good knowledge of her subject matter.  

Plus, what other position could Dumbledore conceivably give her 
other than Divination if she were to stay at Hogwarts these sixteen 
years?  Why not let the children explore the subject?  I'm about to 
repeat Eric's post so I'll move on to one final thing.

I'll admit it surprised me a great deal that Dumbledore, who seems 
to represent the tolerant side of the WW, would dismiss a subject 
and indeed discontinue the subject at Hogwarts.  Why would 
Dumbledore discourage the study of any subject?  Then again, in a 
sense it does seem like a Dumbledore sort of decision, as he was 
headmaster of Hogwarts during Voldemort's reign.  Perhaps he felt 
there were other subjects that merited more attention than 
Divination.  In this instance, Trelawney's prophecy pertaining 
specifically to Voldemort, could have taught him a lesson about what 
he deems worthwhile versus what may actually be valuable.  

KathyK, feeling a little rusty and hoping she made some sense