Should Harry have told on DJU? (was Re: Harry as last DADA teacher?)

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 100516

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "quigonginger" > Ginger, 
female, US resident, almost 38 (on 17 June):
> 
> Perhaps it is the age factor rather than the nationality?  I was 
> surprised the first time I heard it suggested (on the list, not in 
> the book) that Harry should have told about the quill.  I 
understood 
> him perfectly.  One doesn't shout one's weakness to the world, one 
> takes it like a man, er, person.  In a case like this, one doesn't 
> admit defeat no matter how bad the odds are.  It isn't "manly".
> 

Well, I can't really agree with this fully.  I myself am only one 
year younger than you (37 on June 15), and as I said I think Harry 
was being an idiot.  Any teacher trying that with me would have been 
in court so fast her/his head would have been spinning.  In fact, one 
teacher who tried something much less severe DID end up in front of 
the schoolboard, and I enjoyed every minute of it (and emerged 
victorious - she got a formal reprimand and I got an automatic "A" 
and was excused from ever taking a class with her again).

I tend to believe that this is not a matter of generation, or 
nationality, or gender.  It is a matter of one's own personal 
psychology and beliefs about what pride consists of, what is 
embarassing, etc.  I  understand what you are saying intellectually, 
and I am not in any way implying YOU were an idiot, as the situation 
you describe was different from either mine or Harry's.  However, I 
must admit that I have always found the "suffer in silence" attitude 
to be baffling in the extreme, and sometimes tinged unhealthily with 
masochism (once again not making judgments about your personal 
situation).  I think I can honestly say that, in the situation that 
ended up with me taking a teacher before the school board, the 
thought of NOT complaining never even crossed my mind.

Dzeytoun