Hogwarts Teachers (was History at Hogwarts) (was Re: Wizard Persecution )

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 126178


Lisa [jltraveling] wrote:
> I'm new here, hope you don't mind if I jump into the conversation. 

SSSusan:
Welcome, Lisa!  Please do jump into the conversation -- that's what 
makes it fun around here.


Lisa:
> From the Puppetmaster!Dumbledore perspective, it seems that each of 
> the teachers has something important to teach Harry and the rest.  
> Not necessarily in the classroom, but the all-important real-life 
> lessons that the omniscient Dumbledore knows will become crucial in 
> the very near future. 
>
> ...Moody was to have him available at the school when things went
> bad ...Snape, for example, may be a miserable jerk, but from all 
> indications he is an admirable potion-maker as well as a member of 
> the Order of the Phoenix.  And he has saved Harry's life.  
> ...Perhaps Dumbledore feels that allowing Trewlaney to 
> continue teaching Divination is a justifiable means to the end of 
> having her well-placed within the castle for the times that she 
> does make a real prophecy.


SSSusan:
These seem pretty reasonable to me in terms of your suggestion that 
there is something *besides* just their subject matter that they have 
to teach or to offer.  

Snape & Moody (and even Crouch!Moody) do seem to know their stuff, 
and so the subject matter isn't being short shrifted.  

Binns & Trelawney seem to be less well argued away with this 
explanation, at least in terms of keeping them on as *teachers* as 
opposed to keeping them in some other capacity at Hogwarts.  Since 
Hogwarts has many ghosts, if Binns is less than a dynamic & fairly 
ineffective history teacher, couldn't he just be a "regular" Hogwarts 
ghost and somebody more skilled could teach History?  Couldn't 
Trelawney be kept in a post such as Hogwarts Resident Seer and either 
dispense with Divination altogether or hire someone different?  (I 
get the sense that Trelawney might have been content all along with 
just room & board and the chance to interact with a few interested 
students.)

I'm also wondering where *Lockhart* would fall in this category 
of "These Teachers Have Something Else to Teach."  Into the "Harry 
Must Learn That You Can't Always Trust a Pretty Face (or a Conceited 
Blowhard)" category?  Or perhaps it falls more into your next point:


Lisa:
> ... the actual number of adult wizards in the Potterverse is 
> relatively low.  Of those, how many are genuinely interested in 
> teaching?  


SSSusan:
I admit that I've never quite understood the "Nobody's willing" 
explanation for filling the DADA post, especially before, say, 
Harry's third year.  If, as it seems, Quirrell had been there for a 
few years, then took sabbatical before returning Harry's 2nd year 
[see http://www.hp-lexicon.org/essays/essay-quirrells-leave.html ], 
then surely news of a possible DADA jinx wouldn't have started 'til 
at least after Lockhart's year?  

But if, as you suggest, there just *aren't* many adult witches or 
wizards capable of AND interested in teaching DADA, because of an 
overall small wizarding population, I guess I could understand it.

But wouldn't teaching DADA be one of the coolest jobs? :-)

Siriusly Snapey Susan