Snape's hair; the term "professor" (was: Snape's hair and status)

[pattigray]

No: HPFGUIDX 58548

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, 
>     
> On a different topic,
> 
> Gail:
> >Why do the teachers at Hogwarts and other magical schools have to 
be 
> >full-fledged professors? Do they answer to a magical Education 
Department, 
> >as well as (in the case of private schools like Hogwarts) the 
board of 
> >governors?
> 
> Eloise:
> You're not the first person to wonder about this and there are 
various 
> theories out there about post-Hogwarts education and who is 
entitled to become a 
> professor or not.
> 
> I actually think that the explanation for the use of the 
term "professor" is 
> quite prosaic. The Potterverse appears quite archaic culturally in 
some ways. 
> The title,  "Professor" did not used to have the same connotations 
as it has 
> now (and of course, those connotations are themselves different on 
either side 
> of the Atlantic). I think to a British reader it is perhaps a more 
obviously 
> archaic usage, as for us a modern professor is the head of a 
university 
> department (I was going to say faculty, but again this is a term 
with different US/UK 
> meanings). It's the highest post a teaching academic can have. The 
title of 
> Charlotte Bronte's _The Professor_, OTOH, refers to a *teacher*. In 
any case, 
> it is a position, not a qualification.
>
Just to muddy the cross-Atlantic waters a little more..in the 
US "Professor" is often more a title than indication of rank. For 
instance in most US universities, the title "Doctor" is more 
prestigious than "Professor", as Professor can be used to address a 
teacher at the university level who does not have a Ph.D. Most 
faculty members (who have Ph.D's) are addressed as Doctor. However a 
full Professor is usually the highest rank. Confused? A department 
chair is also often a figurehead, or the most senior faculty member 
in a department. This is not necessarily a sought after position :)

Patti