"Professor" Snape's repect. [was: Sirius and Remus

[Mandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 98155

> Finwitch wrote:
> Nah - respect must be *earned*. While I do see that Severus Snape 
has earned >Dumbledore's respect (for things Harry does not know 
about and  no one bothers to tell >him) he has NOT earned Harry's.

Mandy Here:
Respect needs to be earned in the adult world.  But we're dealing 
with English Boarding Schools here, and respect is absolutely, 
unquestionable demanded from the pupil by the professors whether they 
deserve it or not.  

It's not unlike the army, respect is drilled into trainee solders to 
create a culture of unquestionable loyalty to one `superiors.'  
Children do as they are told no matter what. Old fashioned I know, 
but the WW seems to exist more in the past somehow. Certainly not in 
the same 21st century that the muggle world lives in.   

In the past British boarding schools, upper-class boys boarding 
schools, where designed to train boys to go straight into officer 
positions in the British Army/Navy and to set an example in ruling 
the world.  Girl's boarding schools, or finishing schools, were 
designed to train girls to be passive wives and mothers, with the 
ability to be superb organizers of huge country estates filled with 
servants. The middle classes usually went to day schools where they 
were taught to be happy with their lot in life and not to complain, 
and the really poor kids lived in workhouses where they were trained 
to be servants. All of which required an innate understanding of 
status; who is above you and who is below you, and a complete 
acceptance of your lot in life.   Change to ones status or class was 
not only impossible but also inconceivable.  

Now-a-days status and class are only truly understood by the British, 
Japanese and Middle Eastern Cultures.  It is a cultural phenomenon 
created by centuries of behavior and mores that still live deep in 
our blood now matter how modern we think ourselves today.

I may have gone of the topic a bit here, but any understanding of 
British sensibility will help increase anyone's understanding and 
appreciation of the Harry Potterverse. 

Cheers, Mandy