Thoughts on Umbridge (long) (Was: Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 153039

Sue wrote: 
> Hi, Carol,  very interesting post! I'm living in Australia and was
brought up here, so am not quite familiar with the British system. 
> 
> The impression I get from the events of OOP is that Umbridge is sent 
> to Hogwarts - or, rather, gets herself into Hogwarts, for one reason 
> and one only: to interfere with the actions of that Muggle-lover, 
> Dumbledore. DD seems to be a lot more than just a school Principal 
> <snip> The school is a reflection of the WW in general, especially 
> as it later appears in HBP, with fear and loathing and people 
> accusing each other and others disappearing. <snip>
> 
> Whether it's a comment on British education I don't know, but I 
> suspect not, or at least less than it is on the world in general as 
> it is now, with politicians appealing to the worst in people. <snip>

Carol responds:
Hi, Sue. thanks for responding. I agree that Hogwart is, or should be
"a reflection of the WW in general," but let's look at what Umbridge says.

In response to Harry, who asks what good theory will be in the real
world, she says, "This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world"
(244). Harry retorts, "So we're not supposed to prepare for what's
waiting out there?" and Umbridge responds, "There is nothing waiting
out there" (244).

In part this response reflects the official Ministry position that
Voldemort has not returned. In terms of the WW, Harry's "real world,"
the implication is that the purpose of a Defense against the Dark Arts
is not to teach students to defend themselves against Dark wizards. In
more general terms, the implication is that the purpose of an
education is not to prepare students for the real world.

What is the purpose of an education, then, in Umbridge's view? She
answers that question herself in response to Dean Thomas's comment
that he "learned loads" from Umbridge's predecessor, Crouch!Moody,
despite his being a maniac (please don't mistake me; I'm not defending
Crouch!Moody, one of my least favorite characters):

"Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will
be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which,
after all, is what school is about" (243). So education is about
passing examinations? That sounds to me like "teaching to the test,"
one of the criticisms launched against the teaching practices in many
American schools. What I want to know is whether something of the same
sort is going on in Britain.

Or, setting aside *real* real life and looking at "real life" in the
WW, which consists not only of the jobs students will apply after
Hogwarts and other mundane matters (the students do, after all, have
to start considering careers in their fifth year and deciding which
NEWT classes they want to take if they pass the requisite OWLS), but
in the case of DADA, consists of protecting themselves against the
Dark Arts, Umbridge is reducing the class to reading a book on theory
in the classroom, without discussion and with no practical application
whatever, with the (ostensible) aim of helping them pass their DADA
OWL. "Children like themselves" are in no danger, and troublemakers
who suggest otherwise are to be reported to her.

So, like Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor with the ignorant masses, she
is indoctrinating the students with the delusion that the Ministry
will protect them and they need to do nothing to defend themselves.
All they need to do is regurgitate the theory on the written portion
of the OWL and perform the defensive spells for the first and perhaps
only time, based on what they've read, for the sole purpose of passing
the test.

Even for Charms, this methodology would not work. We've seen that the
students generally (and admittedly, JKR is not absolutely consistent),
need to practice a spell in order to do it right. With DADA, practice
is especially important because a defensive spell is intended for use
against an attacker, and DADA, as its name implies, is specifically
intended to teach defense against Dark magic. Umbridge's theory-based
course is useless for this purpose.

DADA is unlike the other classes at Hogwarts, which do seem to exist
to prepare students for careers in the WW (as well as teaching them to
use their magical abilities in a controlled and somewhat practical
way). For some students, those who wish to work in magical law
enforcement, for example, DADA serves a similar purpose. But it also
serves as a form of self-defense, always important because of Dark
creatures and Dark wizards that a witch or wizard is likely to
encounter, but especially important now. In another year, Umbridge's
"teaching" would simply be a waste of time, like Binns's droning
lectures, but in a year when Voldemort has been restored to his
physical form and is about to return, it is actually dangerous. Theory
will not protect the students, and Harry knows it, as does Hermione,
and in consequence, they form the DA.

In part, of course, Umbridge's classes are a plot device. As you say,
Umbridge is in Hogwarts primarily to undermine Dumbledore. But we
don't see her from Dumbledore's point of view, we see her from
Harry's, and what she does (or doesn't) do in the classroom is
important. In essence, she is a DADA teacher in name only, and her
failure to teach this crucial subject leads to the students, for the
first time (unless we count Harry preparing for the TWT), trying to
teach themselves. If she taught any other subject--Charms,
Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions--they probably would simply sleep
through her classes as they do with Binns, even in an OWL year. But
since she is supposed to be teaching them to defend themselves against
the Dark Arts (and they've had only one or two competent DADA
instructors in the past five years), they resort to forming the DA.

Umbridge's classes can profitably be contrasted with Snape's, which,
however unpleasant, do exactly what Harry, Hermione, and the others
state that a DADA class ought to do. They involve students learning
how to defend themselves from each other, and sometimes from the
teacher--the only practical method of learning to defend themselves
against "what's out there."

Maybe JKR's whole point in depicting Umbridge's DADA classes is to
contrast them with Snape's. In marked contrast to her determined
assertion that "nothing is out there," he knows perfectly well that
Voldemort is back and what he is capable of doing. He begins by
papering the walls of his classroom with posters showing the effects
of attacks by Dementors and Inferi and of Unforgiveable Curses like
Cruciatus. Instead of having them read a useless and boring text on
defensive theory, he assigns essays on Dementors and Dark Curses and
similar topics and has the students practice nonverbal defensive
spells in class. (No wonder Snape has wanted to teach this class all
along, despite the so-called jinx on it. He knows what he's doing and
he's good at it.)

But I wonder, too, if there's an element of real-world satire in
Umbridge's teaching methodology and educational philosophy.

Carol, who would love to see Umbridge in a duel with Snape