[HPforGrownups] Re: Is Snape really THAT good in Potions?(was: Snape and the Kappa)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 119523

On 8 Dec 2004 at 16:07, potioncat wrote:

> I think you're right, no one calls Flitwick the Charms Master. But 
> Potions Master still means Potions teacher.  And when Snape tries to 
> uncover the purpose of Harry's spare bit of parchment, he refers to 
> himself as a master of Hogwarts (a teacher of Hogwarts)(Sorry, I 
> don't have the exact quote.)

"Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to 
yield the information you conceal!" 

Just a brief comment. First of all I am just going to quote from my 
big essay discussing Hogwarts in the context of the British Public 
Schools.

"By longstanding tradition, teachers in public schools are 
generally referred to as school masters or school mistresses, 
rather than mere teachers (Walford, 1984, p.115). While at 
Hogwarts, the more generic term seems to be in common use, the term 
master still appears to be used occasionally as seen in the above 
quote, and it survives as part of the terms Headmaster, 
Headmistress, and similar terms.  

"The appointment of teachers at Hogwarts seems to be virtually 
entirely in the hands of the Headmaster - at least under normal 
circumstances in the absence of unusual Educational Decrees 
(Rowling, J.K. 2003, p.275). Historically this matches the practice 
of the public schools where appointments were generally largely in 
the hands of the Headmaster of the day (Gathorne-Hardy, 1977, 
p.190).  

"It is worth considering here, how Headmasters tended to make their 
decisions as to the appointment of staff members. Many readers 
might think it is obvious that certain Hogwarts teachers have had 
no formalized training as teachers. Historically speaking, this was 
quite common for public school teachers. Public school masters were 
regarded as professionals with knowledge based on a theoretical and 
esoteric knowledge within specific subject areas. Most public 
school teachers had no formalized teaching qualifications, instead 
relying on higher degrees (stereotypically a Master of Arts degree 
from Oxford or Cambridge) to prove they understood their subject 
(Walford, 1984, p.116). Large numbers of public school masters were 
themselves the product of public schools (Bamford, 1967, p.121) - 
something that seems likely to be the case for Hogwarts, if for no 
other reason, than there does not appear to be any other 
opportunities for people to acquire the education they need to 
become qualified in their specialist subjects.  

"Specific skills as a teacher, rather than mere knowledge of the 
subject being taught, were regarded as non-essential, though 
valuable if they were present. It was, more or less, assumed that 
pupils would learn if the teacher knew his subject."

Now, the above quotes represent the real historical situation as it 
applied in the British Public (public broadly speaking meaning 
'private' in US terms) Schools - which Hogwarts seems to be a 
rather odd example of.

And I think it may have some implications here.

The Wizarding World doesn't seem to be over-credentialled. As far 
as we know there is no university level studies and therefore we 
have no reason to suppose that they have a Degree structure - but 
nonetheless it still seems likely that some people are considered 
more qualified than others.

Perhaps most teachers at Hogwarts are qualified at something 
equivalent to a 'Bachelors' level in our terms. But a few may be 
qualified at a 'Master' level - just as the stereotypical British 
Public School teacher was an MA. Or perhaps teaching is seen on the 
continuum of a craft system - most teachers are Journeyman, a few 
are Masters.

There may be a reason why only some teachers are Masters at 
Hogwarts. Most may not be, because their subjects may not require 
them.

Also useages change over time - and this is dependent on schools to 
a great extent. I attended a school that was run rather closely on 
the lines of a British Public School (even though it was in 
Australia) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and we tended to use 
the term 'teacher' most of the time. Unless we were being formal, 
or talking about a person's specific 'Titles' in the school 
heirarchy.

We were using the term 'teacher' not because it was particularly 
correct (though there was nothing wrong with it) but because it was 
the term used in wider society outside the school - the term most 
of us had grown up using and had used in our education prior to 
coming to the school in question (the youngest anyone entered this 
school - actually one of its two prep schools - was at 10, quite a 
number entered at 12, or 14 - so most had a lot of time in more 
'modern' or 'mainstream' schools.

Kids are coming to Hogwarts at 11. How they are educated before 
that is largely unknown (except for Muggles who presumably normally 
attended Muggle schools). The kids seem to speak normal modern 
English. They are quite likely it seems to come to the school 
speaking (for want of a better term) 'regular English c1991'.

The term teacher is probably the generic term in their normal 
discussions simply for this reason - even though the more formal, 
somewhat archaic term is probably completely readily understood.

That's how it was for us - we used the teacher most of the time 
(the longer we spent in the school, the less common that seemed to 
become actually - but I think it still stayed the majority term, 
just less significantly). But certain teachers would refer to 
themselves as Masters most of the time - and *all* the time if they 
were referring to a specific position. 

I get the real impression in the quote: "Professor Severus Snape, 
master of this school, commands you to yield the information you 
conceal!" that Snape is seriously emphasising his place in the 
school - so perhaps he uses the correct, formal term, even if it is 
somewhat archaic at Hogwarts by that time. He may need to use it as 
he almost seems to be invoking it as a term of power - not quite a 
spell perhaps, but something almost akin to that.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia