[HPforGrownups] Re: Why DD lets Snape be [a nasty git] (WAS Teachers and fairness)

[Ladi lyndi]

No: HPFGUIDX 56776


--- jenny_ravenclaw wrote:
> *Sigh*  Apparently, JKR agrees with you, as
> Anne has pointed out, but 
> that doesn't make me like this little life
> lesson any more.  If I had 
> a daughter who told me that her teacher
> insulted her, threatened her 
> or embarrassed her, there'd be hell to pay. 
> There are plenty of 
> shitty people out there but my children don't
> need to sit in their 
> classes.  In reality, teachers do experience
> consequences when they 
> treat students unfairly.  More and more, kids
> in our world stand up 
> and talk back to teachers, tell on teachers,
> even make strides to get 
> teachers fired.  
> 
> In the WW, I get the feeling that the Hogwarts
> students don't often 
> approach their parents when dealing with a bad
> teacher situation.  We 
> never hear Hermione mention telling her parents
> about Snape's comments 
> or Neville swearing he'll send an owl right
> away to his formidable 
> grandmother after Snape threatened to let
> Trevor the toad die.  Maybe 
> that is also part of JKR's lesson: if you don't
> speak out, deal with 
> it.  It is also a more traditional view of
> schooling, where kids 
> suffer bad teachers in silence.  In fact,
> students speak back so 
> rarely to teachers in Hogwarts, everyone is
> shocked when Hermione 
> throws up her hands and walks out of
> Trelawney's class.  In my school, 
> kids storm out of their classes all the time.  

Lynn:

Boy do I agree with you and understand your
feelings.  The students do seem to keep quiet a
lot, well, except for Draco apparently.  He does
complain to his father.  I would have liked to
see Draco's letter to his father after he was
turned into a ferret and really want to know how
his father replied.

Draco to Father:  "Daddy, that Mad-Eye idiot
turned me into a ferret in front of everybody and
bounced me all over the Entrance Hall. 'sniff
sniff'  All because my wand accidently went off
and the curse almost hit Scarface."

Father to Draco:  "STAY AWAY FROM POTTER!  How
many times have I told you that you stupid boy! 
Keep your wand in your pocket and it won't go
off.  Start using some of that brain you're
supposed to have.  The last thing we need now is
Moody getting anywhere near our family."

Personally, I think the reason the kids don't
complain is because they don't believe anyone
will do anything about it; and apparently they
are right.  It seems to me the students aren't
learning how to deal with nasty people, they are
just learning how to take it.  They should be
learning how to stand up to injustice and what
steps to take to insure that those committing the
injustice are properly dealt with.

With the incident in GoF and Snape's infamous "I
see no difference" remark, what do the students
learn?  Well, the Gryffindor students learned
that if you try standing up to injustice you get
punished and the Slytherins learn that if you
back the strongest horse, even if it is the
nastiest, you can get away with murder. 

It seems to me that Dumbledore has not been
teaching his students to do what is right rather
than what is easy but rather the opposite.  It's
much easier to not stand up to injustice and the
students appear to have learned this lesson well.

That being said, now that I'm thinking in this
vein, it may be one reason Dumbledore gives those
ridiculous points some people have complained
about.  It may well be Dumbledore's way of
showing that there are rewards as well when
someone does what is right over what is easy.

Lynn

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