Harry's character development

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 139770

"lupinlore" :
> 
> The fact is most people learn by finding answers to practical 
problems 
> that they immediately face.  Most people do not read books, visit 
> research libraries, or engage in long discussions with knowledgable 
> friends over situations and subjects with which they are not 
> immediately involved.  When they need to know about something or are 
> faced with having to do something, they learn about it. And these 
> people function just fine in society, and in fact tend to monopolize 
> its highest and most powerful strata. Schools happen to be structured 
> and staffed by people who like books and research -- meaning people 
> who are unusual with regard to most of humanity.

Finwitch:

This reminds me of an old jokingly expressed definition on teachers: 
People who tell us how deal with problems we wouldn't have without them.

And er, presenting the bezoar for multi-antidote is a very non-
theoretical thing... But let's look at these things:

School may wish to teach how to brew an antidote - just in case a 
bezoar doesn't work - I think that Basilisk Venom is one where bezoar 
doesn't work. But I doubt even Snape could brew an antidote for it in 
time - it appears to be very fast-acting. Phoenix-tears do work, 
though, and you *don't* even know how to brew a potion... Dunno, maybe 
Phoenix-tears could have healed Bill's werewolf-bites-- unfortunately 
Fawkes was still singing his lament...

Oh, and what about the self-stirring cauldrons meaning you don't have 
to know the Potion-theory about stirring? The Star-Models meaning you 
don't need to know how to calculate Star-charts? Inventions *do* come 
out from practical problems or by a lucky accident much more often than 
understanding a theory... Because a theory is just a theory, not the 
final and absolute truth of how things are...

Finwitch